Now You Don't
by AsAmyAsAlways
Summary: Taylor had always been a fan of the Four Horsemen, but never did she imagine that she'd ever become one. Neither did she think that her skills as a hacker or pick-pocket would ever do her any good. But when the Mayor of New York City begins stealing money from the public, her unique skills are just what the Horsemen need.
1. Chapter 1 - Wilder

"Ladies and gentlemen." I heard a man's voice call and I looked up from the circular bar as the crowded room cheered. A young man with short brown hair, dark eyes and dressed all in black, stepped onto the top of a table. People towards the back of the bar cheered as they saw the man's face, and my breath caught in the back of my throat as the face of Jack Wilder, one of the famous Horsemen, looked out through the crowd. To say I was a fan of the Horsemen would be an understatement. Their shows were incredible and had inspired me to learn magic myself. Well, when I say magic, it's more like extreme pick-pocketing street performances, computer hacking and strange random talents, but I like to think it's magic.

"Are we all having a good night?" Jack called out and everyone cheered. "Excellent." He grinned. "Who wants to see some magic?" he asked and again, the audience cheered. "Alright. Now I need two volunteers…how about you sir…and you ma'am." He pointed to a man a few tables from him and a woman in the far corner of the bar. "Now, please stand up and hold up a straw each." Jack said to them and they both held up black, plastic straws. Jack pulled out a stack of playing cards and shuffled them from hand to hand. "I think these straws a little long. Don't you?" he asked and threw a card towards the first man holding the straw and the card cut straight through the _plastic_ straw. The crowed 'ooed' and cheered as Jack threw another card, this time at the woman in the back corner of the bar. The card flew towards her, circled around her and then cut through her straw as well.

Jack smirked round at the crowd as they cheered. He saw me watching and without looking, shuffled through his cards until he stopped at one. He threw it towards the bar and it turned, flying the entire way around the circular bar and then landed on the glass surface in front of me, tucking it's corner neatly under my drink. I picked up the card and turned it over to see the Queen of Hearts staring up at me. I let out a soft chuckle and smirked, as I looked back at the Horseman who had turned back to the crowd.

"Okay. I will give anyone two-hundred dollars if they can tell me how this trick works." Jack said and pulled out a spoon. "I have an ordinary spoon from my friend at the bar here." He said and nodded to the bar owner who waved at the crowd. "Now, everyone please pay close attention, because I am about to bend this spoon with my mind." He said and held the spoon between his first and second finger, and with the other hand, he hovered it over the spoon's handle and it began to bend downwards.

He held up the spoon, showing the handle, which was bent at a ninety degrees angle and the crowd cheered and applauded. He waited for someone to put their hand up to tell the crowd how the trick was done, but no one did. He grinned round at the crowd, glancing at me with a smirk and I raised my eyebrows as I clapped with the crowd.

"Okay, people. I think we have time for one more trick." Jack said to the crowd. "I want to thank you all for being such an amazing audience, but it's time for me to leave. Goodnight!" he called and pulled out two packs of cards and flicked them into the air and as the cards fell, Jack had disappeared. "Just kidding." His voice called from the other end of the room as he appeared on another table and the audience cried out in surprise and astonishment. "I'm not leaving without a drink first." He grinned and jumped off the table. He made his way through the crowd of people applauding him and patting him on the back, towards the bar.

'Oh my gosh.' I though to myself. ' _The_ Jack Wilder, one of _the_ Horesemen, is coming over. Okay, be cool. Don't go all fangirly. Just be cool and don't embarrass yourself.'

"Very impressive." I said to him as he sat on the bar stool next to me as he wavered to the bar man for a drink, and I held out the Queen Of Hearts card to him.

"Keep it." he said.

"Two-hundred dollars for that spoon trick?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah, well, no one got it, so, I'm safe." He smirked.

"So, that spoon in your back pocket and the one down your sleeve have nothing to do with it?" I asked, and after a pause, he scoffed and pulled out the two spoons, placing them on the table. "Two-hundred, wasn't it?" I asked. He sighed slightly and went to reach for his wallet. "Keep it." I said, shaking my head and he smiled.

"So, are you here alone, Miss…?" he trailed off.

"Taylor." I said and held out my hand.

"Jack." He replied and shook it. As I let go of his hand, I glanced down and saw a glint of gold as he put his hand in his pocket. I looked down at my hand and saw that my watch was gone.

"So, are you here alone, Taylor?" he asked again, looking down at my sparkly, black dress and dark blue shoes.

"Well, I was going to meet a friend, but she bailed. So, here I am." I said, crossing my legs, knocking his jacket with my shoe, and tipping his wallet out of his pocket. I caught it with my foot and slipped it into my pocket, all without him noticing. 'Two can play that game.' I thought.

"Well, can I buy you a drink?" he asked with a sly grin.

"I'd love one." I replied and watched as he reached for his wallet. He stiffened when he realised it wasn't on his person anymore. "I'll have my watch back, please." I said and held up his wallet.

"Fair game." He said and pulled out my watch. "Any other ticks you got up your sleeve?" he asked as he took back his wallet.

"I wish." I answered. "I mean the Horsemen are probably the best magicians in the world right now, and I can only dream of being that good." I rambled. "I've seen all your shows, every trick all of you have ever done. I am a _huge_ fan." I finished and then realizing how creepy fangirl that sounded, I grimaced. "I'm sorry. That was embarrassing. I just went totally crazed fan on you. I should probably go before I embarrass myself any more. Thanks for tonight, I guess." I said quickly, getting down from the stool. "Okay, bye." I said and quickly turned around and walked towards the door. I could feel him still watching me and I cursed inwardly, throwing my eyes up to the ceiling. 'Great job, Taylor. You embarrassed yourself in front of one of _the_ _Horsemen_ and ruined your chance at trying to impress them.' I thought as I walked out the door and groaned in annoyance as I leant my back against the wall.

I sighed and put my hand out for a taxi.

Once I was back at my apartment I kicked off my shoes and threw my bag onto the couch, before walking to the fridge. I went to open in, but something stuck to the fridge caught my eye and I pulled a tarot card from underneath a magnet stuck to the shiny white door.

On the front of the card was a drawing of an angel, playing a gleaming trumpet to the people on earth and had the word 'Judgement' written in a banner at the bottom.

I flipped over the card and saw an address, a time and a date written on the back of it in white writing, with the symbol of the Egyptian Eye sitting above it. It read:

45 East Evan Street

NYC, NY

4:44 pm

January 11th

January 11th? That was tomorrow. At first I thought it strange, however it wasn't long before curiosity took over. But before I could go rushing off I had to think about this properly. If someone told me to go to a random address, because they found a mysterious card on their fridge, I'd decline and back away quickly. So why then, did I feel like this was important? I looked back at the card. Judgment. In tarot cards, Judgment meant a new beginning, a rebirth.

I decided to sleep on it and think about it in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2 - Judgement

**4:44pm**

 **December 11** **th**

 **45 East Evan Street**

 **NYC, NY**

I looked up at the apartment building and took a deep breath to settle my racing pulse. My mind and practically anyone else you'd ask would tell me that this was a bad idea, but my gut was telling me that this was important. So, I walked into the lobby of the apartment and looked around for anything that might relate to the card. I saw a group of three men sitting on a couches in the corner of the room, but apart from them, there was no one else around. I glanced over at the group again, as one of the men, in a black trilby hat, looked up and saw me watching. My mouth fell open slightly as I realised I was looking at Merrit McKinney, one of the Horsemen. This couldn't be a coincidence. Two Horsemen in two days?

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked me and I realised I was still staring, so I looked away quickly. In any other circumstance I would have freaked out that Merrit McKinney had spoken to me, but I was more focused on the card. I looked at my watch. 4:50pm. Reaching into the back pocket of my, I pulled out the card to make sure I had the right address.

The sound of a piece of thick paper being tapped on a table came to my ears and I looked back at McKinney to see him tapping a tarot card on the glass coffee table beside him. He flipped it over and on the back I saw that it had the same time and address as mine.

I took a breath and then walked over to the three men.

"Hi. Um…" I started but trailed off when I caught sight of the other two men with McKinney; Daniel Atlas and Jack Wilder.

"Yeah?" McKinney asked. I snapped out of my trance and showed them the card. The trio where quiet for a while before Atlas and McKinney stood up.

"Merrit McKinney. Nice to meet you." He said, shaking my hand. I tried to pull my hand away but he put his other hand to his temple. "Now don't tell me. Tara, no, uh, Taylor?" he asked and I nodded a little confused.

"Daniel Atlas." Atlas said and shook my hand too.

"Well, let's go." McKinney said and he and Atlas headed for the stairs.

"Come on. I'll explain on the way." Jack stood and said, seeing my confused and slightly alarmed expression.

"On the way?" I asked.

"Down." He answered, walking towards the stairwell. "Welcome to the Horsemen." He smirked back at me, before I followed him down the stairs.

"The Horsemen are lead by the Eye, sort of like an all seeing Big Brother. They're the keepers of real magic and they give us our jobs or 'miracles' to perform: Expose this corrupt company, get money to people in need. Your regular Robin Hood type of thing. So, we put on our shows, but they're all connected to whatever job the Eye has for us." He explained. "But, I'm sure, since you've seen every single one of our shows…" he said and paused to see me grimace. "…you've probably worked out in the end how they all connect together." He finished.

"And the cards?" I asked.

"After we finish a job, we all go our separate ways, but when we're needed again we're summoned by these cards, with a time and place each time." He answered as we got to the bottom of the stairs. "You following?" he asked.

"This is a lot to process." I answered and he grinned as he opened the door and let me into a large stone room with old paintings of the Egyptian Eye plastered onto all the walls.

Atlas and McKinney were bending over a small, grey safe, sitting on a table in the middle of the room.

"There are over three hundred and sixty possible combinations." McKinney was saying. "And I don't know about you but I'm not sitting around while we try every single one."

"Can I have a look?" I asked hesitantly.

"Be my guest." He replied and stepped back as I crouched in front of the safe. 'This safe would have been put here on purpose, so we'd find it. Which means that the combination probably has something to do with us being here.' I thought to myself. It was a six numbered combination and it was put here…here.

"That's it." I said. "The combination is here." I said again and twisted the lock to forty-four. "Forty-four's the address, zero is the level we're on and two, three, six is the room number." I explained and from inside the safe, the lock clicked and I pulled open the door.

"Not bad." McKinney said as I pulled out a small, handheld projector. There was a red button on the side, so I pressed it and a bright, blue light shot from the end and projected a set of blue prints onto the far wall. The blueprints showed seating arrangements, headshots, and a large stage with placing's for four people.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a show." Atlas said in awe as the blue prints continued to flash onto the wall.

"There's something else." Jack said and we looked around as he pulled an envelope out of the safe and read it out loud. "It's from the Eye."

"" _Two years ago, the mayor of New York City, Michael Haist, issued a proclamation that he would increase taxes to help fight homelessness in New York. What the public doesn't know is the tax that he took, went straight into his own, private bank account. When some people couldn't afford to pay the tax, they'd be forced into homelessness too. And so the circle continued, as more people became homeless, the mayor would increase the amount, and the public would pay it willingly as they believed they were doing good._

 _So, give the people back their money, and expose Michael Haist for what he truly is.""_ Jack finished reading.

"Showtime." McKinney said with a grin, rubbing his hands together.


	3. Chapter 3 - Coming Together

**1 Week Later**

"Got it. 47 Hazelton Circuit." I announced and looked up from my computer. After sorting through photos, facebook messages and tweets, I'd found the address of Michael Haist. Our plan was to deliver an invitation and free ticket to our show and then we would use that show to gain access to his bank accounts. And, being entertainers, we wanted a big crowd for our final act when we exposed him, so to ensure that we had the biggest crowd possible we would give the audience the one thing they really wanted.

So, after choosing four members of the audience, I'd hacked into and scanned their social media, shopping patterns, texts and search histories, to find what they wanted most. We'd sent McKinney out to buy/use his mentalism to get the items for free and I was about to send Jack out to deliver the invitation to Haist.

"You sure that's the place?" Jack asked, looking over my shoulder at the computer screen.

"A hundred percent." I replied and handed him the envelope holding the ticket and invite. He smirked and took the envelope before heading out the door, passing McKinney coming in on his way out.

"Alright. One car, one pair of shoes, one engagement, and one plane ticket ready to go." He announced. "You know that this is technically stealing and the FBI will be back on our tails again." He said to Atlas.

"As long as we stay one step ahead of them, we'll be fine." Atlas replied, not looking up from the show plans.

"Well if you're not worried." McKinney shrugged and sat down, resting his feet on the coffee table.

"But if the FBI comes, then what?" I asked, worried.

"We destroy any evidence of the show so they have no evidence and then we get to the airport, where the Eye has left us a jet in case things go south." Atlas replied.

"Right." I nodded. 'This was making us sound like criminals' I thought. "What is Haist doesn't turn up?" I asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Atlas said. "No matter what he says, he's a sucker for anything free, especially if he can get something out of it." he explained as the door opened and Jack walked in.

"He's in." he said.

"Alright. It's go time." McKinney said, clapping his hands together.


	4. Chapter 4 - Showtime

I stood at the entrance to the New York Theatre, watching as the audience filed in. Every so often, as someone passed, I'd take a wallet, phone or watch without them noticing and slip them into someone else's bag or pocket. It turns out that simple pick pocketing can be a great entertainment for an audience. When I'd done enough, I made my way backstage where the others were getting ready. I went to the dressing room and changed into the long-sleeved, black dress and ankle boots that were waiting for me, before I went out to meet the others.

"Ready?" Merritt asked as we all put on our microphones.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Haist's there." Atlas said, coming back from peeking out of the curtain.

"Alright. Here we go." Merritt said as the announcer walked out onto the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to tonight's show. Unlike many other shows, the Four Horsemen encourage you to film, tweet and stream their show to the world. On behalf of the New York Theatre, we hope you enjoy the show and it is our great pleasure to present to you…The Four Horsemen." She called and the audience cheered as we ran onto the stage. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face, I was doing what, for so long, I'd wanted to do, in front of a crowd of five thousand people.

"Man it is good to be back!" Jack called out to the crowd.

"It certainly is, and now I'd like to introduce the newest member to the team; Taylor." He said and the crowd cheered as I waved to them.

"Alright. Thank you everyone." Atlas continued, and the crowd fell quiet. "Tonight we're going to talk about the principles of magic, the basics." He said.

"What makes magic, magic?" Jack added.

"And why is it so intriguing?" I asked the crowd, reciting the lines that we'd practiced over and over again.

"Let's start with some simple disappearing tricks. Taylor, over to you." Merritt continued.

"Okay. Have you ever lost something and then had it turn up in some completely unconnected place?" I asked the crowd and there was a murmur of agreement, a few laughs of remembered stories and the nodding of heads. "Okay, here's another question. Has anyone never had that happen to them? They're a freak of nature that has never lost anything in their lives. If that's you, then please stand up." I said and the crowd laughed as the three people stood up in the theatre. "So, sir, you've never lost anything?" I asked the middle aged man closest to the stage.

"Never." He called back proudly.

"Oh, so, you know exactly where your wallet is then?" I asked.

"It's here." He said and reached for his pocket, but being one of the audience members I'd stolen from, he looked up horrified when he realised it wasn't there.

"I-I don't know." He said and the audience muttered.

"And ma'am where's your watch?" I asked the woman standing up on the other side of the theatre and she turned pale when she realised it was no longer on her wrist. "And sir? Your phone?" I asked a man at the back of the theatre and he felt about his person for it.  
"Don't panic. Let's get them returned to you, shall we?" I called out. "Is there a Jeff Gold, Mary-Anne Pine and Colin James, in the audience?" I asked and then were three calls of 'Yes' and they stood up. "Excellent. Now Jeff, could you take this man's wallet out of you pocket?" I asked pointing at the first man. "Mary-Anne, could you please take this woman's watch off your wrist? And Colin, take this gentlemen's phone out of your bag." I said and the audience watched as the trio's faces turned to shock as they pulled out the belongings of the targets. The audience cheered and applauded as the belongings were returned. "Thank you." I grinned to the audience. "So, magic can be as intriguing as illusions, or simply knowing your targets well enough to make anything believable." I finished as the crowd thought it over.

"I now believe Mr McKinney has some mind games to try on you." I said and handed over to Merrit.

"Thank you, Taylor." He said. "Now, we need a member of the audience for this trick." He said and Atlas handed Jack and I a glass bowl each filled with ping pong balls, with letters and number written on them. I walked over to the front row of people and held the bowl out to them. A young girl picked out one of the balls and handed it to me.

"In Taylor's bowl are section letters. Taylor?" Atlas called and as I turned to throw the ball to him, I swapped it over with one up my sleeve. The one that would give us the section letter of Michael Haist. I threw the ball to Atlas who caught it.

"Thank you. Okay, we're looking at section G. Where's section G?" Atlas asked and a group to the side of the stage cheered and waved. "Jack, a row number please." he called and Jack threw him another ball. "Row 6." He announced and the row cheered. "And finally, the seat number." He said and held out his bowl to the crowd. "Seat 28. G,6,28, where are you?" he asked and just as planned, Michael Haist stood up and the crowd cheered as they recognised him as the mayor of New York who was 'fighting homelessness'.

"Okay, now. Sir." Merritt said to Haist. "Over the past year I've been teaching young Jack here a bit of mentalism." He said, patting Jack on the shoulder. "Now, he thinks that he's become the master, but I want him to prove it…by reading your mind." He said and the mayor chuckled. _Now all Jack had to do was trick him into revealing the answers to his security questions for his bank account._

"Okay, sir. I'm getting a location…where you were born…I'm thinking Brooklyn." Jack said. "Is that correct?"

"Close. Queens." The mayor called back.

"Okay, let me try again." Jack grinned. "Your first pet was a…dog called…Lucy."

"No. My first pet was a turtle named Fred." The mayor replied and the audience laughed.

"I told you Jack, the student will never beat the master." Merritt said. "Alright, people. Let me show you how it's done… Could Mary Franks please stand up." He said and a young woman in the front row stood. "Now Mary. I can tell that you've been saving for something…an item of clothing…" he said and she nodded, amazed. "…a pair of shoes…ooh, Louis Vuiton. Very nice…Well, Mary if you could open that box on the stage in front of you." He said and Mary walked over to the stage where a black box was waiting and she gasped as she opened it and pulled out the pair of shoes she'd wanted.

 _We'd gotten what we needed from Haist, and now it was time to ensure we'd have a crowd for our big reveal. And how would we do that? By giving the audience exactly what they want._

"Thank you." She said happily.

"Okay, now is there a Rosette Clide in the room, if so please stand up." He said and another woman, further to the back stood up. "Now, I'm getting something small…something that will take you somewhere…a plane ticket…to…Africa?" he asked her and she nodded. "Why do you want to go to Africa?" he asked her.

"My son is getting married over there, but I can't afford a plane ticket at the moment." She said.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your flight, because if you open your purse you should find a first class return seat to Africa." McKinney said and she cried out in happiness as she pulled out the ticket.

"Okay. We've already proved Jack can't do this. So how 'bout we give Atlas and Taylor a go?" he asked the audience and they cheered.

"Fingers crossed." Atlas said. "Could Peter Jones please stand up?" he asked and a young man stood. "You're also saving for something…something red…from 1998…a car?...a red Honda from 1998?" he asked and the man nodded. "Well, if you look under your seat, I think you'll find something better than that." Atlas said and the man put his hand under his seat and stared in disbelief at a set of car keys.

"A-A Ferrari?" he stammered in amazement.

"Waiting right outside for you." Atlas replied and the man yelled in joy as the crowd cheered.

"Alright, how hard can this mentalism thing be?" I asked the crowd. "Do we have a Tom Rogers and Lily Douglas in the audience?" I asked and a young couple stood up. "Now Tom, you have a secret…a surprise…ooh, how exciting I won't say anything." I winked. "But Lily…you want something…a connection, or celebration…a joining of two people…you want a wedding." I said. "You're wedding?" I asked and she nodded sheepishly. "Well, Tom, do you think you should reveal your secret?" I asked and he turned to Lily and pulled out a red box. He got down on one knee and smiled up at her.

"Will you marry me?" he asked her and she nodded as the audience cheered.

"Congratulations, guys." I called.

"And thank you all for being such an amazing audience." Jack added.

"We hope you had as much fun as we did." Merritt added.

"Thank you again and goodnight!" Atlas cried as we ran off the stage.


	5. Chapter 5 - Cowan

"That was so cool." I grinned as we walked back into our apartment after the show.

"And what a great first impression to make on your audience." Jack said to me and I smiled sheepishly.

There was the sound of a siren outside and Atlas looked through the blinds to the road below.

"Uh, guys. They found us." He said."Who? Who found us?" I asked.

"The FBI." Merritt said.

"FBI? I can't go to jail!" I cried.

"Then stick to the plan. You two stay here and burn everything. Meet us at the airport." He said to Jack and I.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"We're gonna give them a false trail to follow." Merritt said as he and Atlas hurried out of the apartment.

I walked over to the window and looked down into the street where there were black, FBI sedans and police cars surrounding the building, filling up the whole street.

"Oh my gosh." I breathed.

"Hey. It's gonna be fine. Now come on." Jack said as he carried a stack of papers over to the fire and began throwing them in.

I snapped out of my trance and followed Jack's example, picking up piles of maps and notes and tossing them into the fire.

"You've done this before?" I asked, watching Jack rifling through a stack of papers at top speed.

"A few…Yeah, those too." He replied, and pointed to the print out of an email I was hooding, and I tossed it into the fire.

We worked quickly, and soon everything that could connect us to anything had been destroyed.

"Let's get outta here." Jack said and we started towards the door, but froze when we heard footsteps coming up the stairs. "Back up. Back up." Jack whispered and he pushed me into a small cupboard, closing the door behind him.

We heard the door to the apartment creak open and soon someone came into the room. We peaked out of the tiny crack in the door and saw a man in a dark suit, with light brown hair scanning through the room with his gun.

"Agent Cowan, the bedrooms are clear." Someone reported over the man's walkie talkie. Agent Cowan walked towards the end of the room, and Jack took his chance, silently pushing open the cupboard door.

We crept out and snuck into the next room where another agent was standing with his back to us. We stopped suddenly and were about to turn around when there was a voice behind us.

"Agent Kane, there's nothing…Hey!" Agent Cowan yelled as he came into the room and I spun around as he saw us, and behind me Kane whipped around too.

I stepped out of the way as Cowan lunged at me, and I used his momentum to push him against the wall. I didn't know what to do next, and in that hesitation he pushed away from the wall with his foot, sending me stumbling backwards. I made a run for the door but Cowan was fast and grabbed me, throwing me away from the door and as I fell, I hit my face on the edge of the concrete table.

"Ah!" I cried as I felt my bottom lip split and blood begin to run down the side of my mouth. Cowan pounced on me and handcuffed my wrists around one of the table legs.

I looked up at Cowan, who was looking triumphant as he pulled out his walkie talkie. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jack handcuffing Agent Kane to the heater.

"Look out!" I yelled suddenly to Cowan, and out of habit he looked over his shoulder. I stretched out and kicked him in the shin, and as he clutched at his leg, I kicked out at his other leg, knocking him to the ground.

"Come on!" Jack said as he knelt down next to me and somehow unlocked the handcuffs without the key. He pulled me up and we ran for the door, clattering down the stairs as we heard shouts from Cowan behind us.

"Down here." Jack said as we reached a garbage shoot and grabbed the rail above it, swinging himself in, feet first. I followed and looked down to see him slowing his decent with his hands and feet pressed against the sides. The chute opened again and I looked up to see Cowan flying down after us.

"Let go!" I yelled down to Jack as I let go of the sides. "Move!" I yelled, and he let go too and we plummeted down into the bags of garbage below. We landed in a heap, but there wasn't any time to rest as Agent Cowan came tumbling down towards us. We scrambled off the bags and sprinted down an alleyway.

"Freeze or I'll shoot!" Cowan yelled behind us but we kept running. We kept our heads covered as a bullet wedged itself into the garbage bin beside Jack.

"Stop them!" Cowan yelled behind us as we emerged into the agent filled street, and a swarm of agents surged towards us. Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me sideways, down the street and he stopped beside two people getting off a motorbike. He grabbed the helmets out of their hands and handed one to me. I put it on as Jack climbed onto the bike and I pulled myself up, behind him.

"Hey! What do you think…" the owner of the bike started to yell but the rest of what he said was drowned out by the sound of the motorbike roar. Jack opened the throttle and we shot off, so violently that I nearly fell off the back, and I wrapped my arms around Jack's middle, holding on for dear life as he sped down the street. Sirens blared behind us as we shot through red lights and swerved through the traffic. We reached a highway and Jack pushed the bike as fast as it would go, but the light traffic also meant the FBI cars could speed up too.

"Do you have any cards with you?" I yelled in Jack's ear as the cars closed in on us.

"In my pocket." He yelled back. I reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a handful of playing cards. "What are you gonna do?" he asked.

"Just drive straight." I yelled back, and carefully swung my leg over one side of the bike, and then other, so I was sitting backwards, facing the cars. I tried to let go of the seat and almost went straight over the edge, but I caught myself just in time. I held the cards in one hand and reached behind me, wrapping my fingers around back of Jack's belt, so I wouldn't fall.

I'd seen the Horsemen do enough card throwing to know what to do. So I held the card between my second and third finger and focused on the front wheel of the closest FBI sedan. I threw the card at the tire, but it hit the windshield instead.

I pulled out another and this time, took more time, before throwing it. I watched it fly through the air and this time, it hit the tire and went straight through. The car swerved to the right, but the driver got the steering under control and skidded to a halt.

Two more cars came through and I threw cards at their tires too, hitting them dead on each time, so that they and the first car, created a road block that the other car's couldn't get through.

"Woo! Yeah!" I cried happily and I heard Jack laughing behind me.

"How did you do that?" he yelled as I carefully sat back around the right way.

"I told you. I've seen every show and every trick you've ever done." I yelled back, holding on tightly as we roared towards the airport.

 **A/N: Sorry it took me so long to publish another chapter. I was having a few problems with the site, but from now I'll post one a day, and I've finished the second story in this series of four. So, get ready for an influx of chapters.**

 **Anyway, I hope you're enjoying it and thank you for the favourites' and reviews! :) 3**


	6. Chapter 6 - Here We Go Again

Atlas and Merritt were waiting for us beside a small jet as we roared up beside them on the motorbike.

"Where've you been?" Merritt asked us as we climbed off the motorbike. "And what happened to your face?" he added once he saw my bloody mouth and chin.

"Oh. Well, let me see. Oh, that's right. We were trying not to get killed." I answered sarcastically. "What happened to, "We'll give them a false trail to follow"?"

"Oh, the false trail wasn't for you. It was so that they'd stay off our tail, until our next show." He replied very matter of factly.

"Oh, well I'm glad I know that now." I replied.

"It's not like you asked." Atlas pointed out.

"Right. Of course." I muttered and followed up the steps of the jet and took my seat in the back section of the plane, with the others in the front.

Once we reached cruising altitude, I got up and went to the bathroom to clean the blood off my face. The blood hat clotted where the lip had split, but as we hit a bit of turbulence I bumped it and I began to bleed again. So, I pulled out the first aid box and found a surgical staple gun. I tensed up, ready for the pain as I pulled the trigger and a staple shot into my lip, sealing the split closed. It was fair to say that there was a lot of swearing after that.

Once I'd cleaned everything away and stopped swearing, I left the bathroom and went back to my seat. I saw Jack leaning on the back of the seat in front, with his arms crossed over the headrest.

I smiled at him, before sitting down and looking out the window. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him still looking at me, and I smiled at him again, before looking back out the window.

"What?" I asked when he still didn't look away.

"I didn't know you knew how to throw cards." He said.

"Neither did I." I sighed. "I guess I took more in watching you guys than I thought I did…I didn't know you could ride a motorbike." I said.

"I didn't know either." He said and grinned as he saw my eyes widen and my mouth drop open.

"You're telling me that that was your first time on a motorbike?!" I said hurriedly, wanting him to tell me he was joking.

"Maybe." He grinned.

"But…what…I'm speechless." I decided and flopped back in the chair. "We could've died!" I finally blurted out.

"Yeah, but we didn't." he replied, annoyingly casual.

"Oh my goodness." I whispered, covering my mouth with my hands.

"Let's change the subject." Jack decided.

"Sure. What's the life of Jack Wilder like? Family, friends, relationships?" I asked.

"Family; parents in Brooklyn and an older sister in London." He listed. "Friends; don't see very often and relationships; not my favourite topic of conversation." He finished.

"Any particular reason?" I asked.

"It's hard to trust someone who steals from you." He shrugged. "It's not something I'm proud of, by the way." He added quickly.

"Ever thought of just hypnotizing them?" I teased.

"I don't think that would go down very well." He chuckled.

"I wish I could do the whole mentalism thing." I sighed. "Be able to read people."

"Yeah? Merritt tried to teach me a few things but I could only ever do the reading people thing, not so much the hypnosis." He said.

"Okay. Let me try being psychic." I said and sat forward.

"Alright. What am I thinking?" he asked and I squinted my eyes at him.

"Mm … that I'm not psychic." I answered and he laughed. "Nope. I got nothing." I shrugged. "Show me what you can do." I added, kneeling on the chair opposite me and placed my arms on the headrest, resting my chin on them, just as Jack was doing a few centimeters in front of me.

"Okay. Family; brother…sister…brother. Younger brother, and parents in …Long Beach." He guessed and I nodded. "You have five…six…seven close friends, and relationships…one…none." He finished and I nodded, impressed.

"Very well done, Mr Wilder." I smiled.

"Thanks." He grinned. "So, you've never had a boyfriend?" he asked.

"Nope. Never really fit in with anyone." I shrugged. "So, I just decided that I'd wait until the right person came along."

"Had any luck?" he asked.

"Not sure yet." I replied, tapping my foot on the other, but sat back in my chair as Merritt joined us.

"Time to see what Mr Haist's been up to." He said, handing a small laptop to me. "Can you do it?"

"Give me ten minutes." I smirked and opened the laptop. I hacked into the Royal National Bank, and scrolled through to Michael Haist's account. I typed in his email address and then clicked on the 'Forgot password?' bar and it opened to two security questions.

The first question read; 'In what city where you born in?' and a grin spread across my face as I remembered the answers Jack had gotten from Haist during the show.

I typed in 'Queens' and then read the second question; 'What was the name of your first pet?', and I typed the name 'Fred' into the box.

I then clicked on the button that should send a password change email to Haist, and I smiled as the answers were accepted. I then logged into his email account, changed the password and then deleted all evidence of the email.

I then put his email and new password into his bank login and a second later his transactions and balance appeared on the screen.

I looked at his most recent balance and it had gone up by forty-thousand in the last minute. 'His most recent tax collection.' I presumed.

"We're in." I said and I paused before adding. "Uh, now what?"

"Now, we set up our final trick." Merritt replied. "Wherever Haist is now, we'll put on a show, congratulate and thank him for another amazing donation to the homeless people of New York, and to celebrate this good deed, we'll invite him to be a special guest to our final show in New York." He finished and I thought for a moment.

"Why don't we make it a double bluff?" I suggested. "So, we lure in Haist, but at the same time we get the FBI off our backs and they won't put any risk to the final show." I explained.

"And how would you do that?" Atlas asked, joining us.

"They could kill us." I suggested. "If they think we're dead, then there won't be anyone to go after anymore."

"Any ideas?" Merritt asked.

"Yes, I do." I nodded as an idea formed in my head and sly grins appeared on their faces as I explained it to them.

"Ya know what? I think that just might work." Merritt nodded. "But first we need Haist's location. The more shows we talk him up in, the better chance we have of getting him to come to the finale. Plus, the FBI wouldn't skip on another chance of finding us." He added, as there was a ping on Haist's bank account.

I looked at the computer and saw that he had just made a big deposit at a casino in Las Vegas, but it wasn't for a room it was for the whole casino.

"Got a location." I said. "We're going to Vegas."


	7. Chapter 7 - Las Vegas

**1 Week Later**

It was the day of the show and for the past week we'd been rehearsing, advertising and making sure everything was in place for both the show and the FBI. I held my wallet in my mouth as I unlocked the door to our room with one hand and held the four garment bags in the other. I pushed the door open with my hip and dropped my wallet into my hand, before laying the bags on the back of the sofa.

"What are these for?" Jack asked, opening one of the bags as the other looked up from whatever they were doing. "Tuxedos?"

"Yeah. For the show." I said, thinking it was obvious.

"Can I ask the question everyone is thinking? Uh, why?" Merritt asked.

"I take it no one's ever been to a casino before." I said and they shrugged. "Trust me. You won't be let through the front door if you wear anything less." I explained and they all looked at me skeptically. "Fine. When we get there, I can promise that I will be able to say "I told you so"." I promised and they looked disbelievingly at each other.

That evening we all went our separate ways to change into our outfits for the show. While the others had tuxedos, I had a midnight blue, sequined, floor-length dress with thick straps and a split in the side that went up to my knee. I hadn't wanted to go for something too elaborate because I needed to be able to move and perform in it.

I walked into the living room to find it empty. Typical. Men always complain that women take too long to get ready, but now who's waiting? So, while I waited I picked up a stack of cards and practiced throwing them at the dart board behind the door. As I threw a card, one came flying passed me and wedged itself in the bull's-eye.

"Show off." I said, pulling out the card and turning to face Jack, who had a grin spread across his face, which disappeared as I faced him. "What?" I asked.

"You, uh, you look very pretty." He said.

"Thanks. And, you too… I mean, you look, hot or handsome or…I mean you look very nice." I finished feebly and cringed inwardly as Jack smirked and glanced down at the ground.

"We all ready?" Atlas asked as he and Merritt walked in.

"Yep." Jack and I chorused.

"Great. Let's get this show on the road." Merritt said, and the four of us walked out of the hotel and into the waiting car that would drive us down the long strip of casinos.

"It's so cliché." I said as we neared Haist's most recent purchase. "I mean seriously, name one bad guy in a movie that doesn't own a casino."

"Voldemort." Atlas said as he looked out the window, and I snorted as I imagined Voldemort playing a fierce round of Black Jack.

The car soon pulled into the circular driveway of a huge, golden casino, with real rubies and emeralds adorning the doorway. We were escorted out of the car and into the hotels lobby where I saw people in flowing gowns and tailcoats.

"Alright. You can say it." Merritt said to me as he stared out through the crowd of well dressed people.

"See? We look casual." I replied, as a woman in the casino's uniform came over to us.

"We are honored to have you here." She said, and I noticed people stopping and pointing at us. "Please, follow me backstage." She said and lead us through the casino until we reached the theatre's backdoor.

Once we were inside and ready to perform, I looked out into the crowd and scanned it for Haist, who, I quickly found, sitting in one of the boxes. I also saw men and women in suits standing by all the exit doors, trying to look inconspicuous. 'The FBI.' I thought. 'Right where we want them.'

We did our final microphone checks, before loud electronic music began to play and the strobe lights flashed out onto the crowd, leaving the stage black. We walked out onto it and stood in our places as the introducer's voice rang over the speakers.

"Haist Casino is proud to introduce to you…the Four Horsemen. Jack Wilder." She said and the spotlight in the ground underneath Jack flashed. "Taylor Court." She called and the blinding light underneath me, lit up my section of the stage. "Merritt McKinney. And Daniel Atlas." She finished and Merritt and Daniel were lit up.

"Thank you, Thank you. It's good to be here." Atlas addressed the crowd. "Now before we begin, there's a few people we'd like to welcome."

"First, a big welcome to the mayor of New York City, Michael Haist. Who has worked tirelessly to help the homeless population of New York." Jack continued.

"So, as a thank you we'd like to invite him and the rest of New York City to our final show." Merritt announced and the crowd cheered.

"We'd also like to welcome all the agents of the FBI who have joined us tonight. Yeah, we see you up there." I grinnee and we all waved cheerfully at them, as they shuffled nervously, obviously realizing that they didn't look as inconspicuous as they thought. "We hope you enjoy the show." I grinned, and the crowd cheered as Atlas marched forward.

"Now, I'm sure you all know that we like our shows the have a lesson behind them. So, tonight we're going to talk about illusions. Because the more you think you see, the less you truly know." He finished and handed over to Jack.

"Okay. I'm going to need one, brave volunteer." He said and looked through the crowd. "How 'bout you?" he smiled and held out his hand to a young boy in the front row, pulling him onto the stage. "What's your name?"

"Tom." The boy said shyly.

"A big round of applause for Tom everyone." Jack said and the crowd cheered as Tom gave a quick wave to the crowd. "Okay, Tom. We're going to do one of the oldest tricks in the book." Jack said and fanned out a deck of cards in one hand. "I need you to pick a card and show the audience, but don't show me." He said and the boy pulled out a card and showed the Ace of Spades to the crowd. "Okay, now put it back in." Jack said and the boy did so. Jack then stood up and shuffled the cards between his hands, across his chest, and over his head as Tom looked up in amazement.

"Tom, is this your card?" Jack asked, holding up the Six of Hearts and Tom shook his head. "Okay, is this your card?" he asked, holding up the Ten of Clubs, and again Tom shook his head.

"One more try. Tom, is this your card?" Jack asked and threw the stack of cards into the air, and as they floated to the ground, they started catching fire and disappearing, one by one. Tom's eyes grew wide as he saw them disappear until only one card was left, which Jack caught and showed the young boy. It was the Ace of Spades.

"Yeah. That's my card." He said excitedly as the crowd cheered.

"A big round of applause for my man Tom, here." Jack called, handing the young boy the card before he ran back to his seat.

We performed our show without a hitch, and soon we were down to our final trick.

"For our final trick this evening, we will be putting our lives in the hands of that woman over there." Merritt said, pointing at me. "I know…" he continued. "…I'd be scared too." He assured the crowd, who laughed nervously as he, Jack and Atlas, each pulled out a set of handcuffs and locked them into their wrists, and then demonstrated to the audience that they were real.

The crowd gasped and muttered as I took three small daggers from the side of the stage. The three men gave the crowd nervous sideways glances as they raised their handcuffed hands above their heads. I took my place, about fifteen metres from them, and then holding the dagger by it's tip, I lined it up with Merritt's handcuffs.

I let my breath go and threw the dagger. It soared through the air and inserted itself neatly in the key hole of his handcuffs and they fell away from his wrists as the crowd cheered.

Merritt walked over to me and pulled out a blindfold, tying it around my head, so I truly couldn't see and the crowd fell silent. I focused on where I'd last scene Atlas' hands and when I had them clearly pictured, I threw the dagger and after a few seconds of silence, I heard the crowd cheer and a pair of handcuffs drop to the floor.

I waited for Atlas to run over to me, and together he and Merritt, spun me in circles, and had the audience clap so that I couldn't tell where the edge of the stage was. After they finished, I stood still, waiting for the darkness to stop spinning. As I couldn't see, my other senses were heightened and I was able to sense where everything was.

I held onto the edge of the dagger and then spun one-hundred-and-eighty degrees and threw the blade as the crowd gasped. I then heard them cheer and I took off the blindfold to see Jack's handcuffs fall to the ground.

"Thank you, Las Vegas for having us." Atlas cried and I saw the FBI agents start moving in towards the stage.

"We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did." I added, as we walked back to our places on the stage where a trap door was waiting.

"And remember…" Merritt continued.

"The more you think you see, the less you end up knowing." Jack finished and we each pulled out a deck of playing cards.

"We are the Four Horsemen! Goodnight!" We all cried together as the FBI agents scrambled onto the stage. We threw our cards up into the air, covering us from view as the trapdoors opened and we dropped down to the boardwalk below as the cards fell and the trapdoors closed, making it look like we'd disappeared into thin air.

We'd finished the first half of the show and now it was time for part two. It was time for the FBI to kill us.


	8. Chapter 8 - Fire!

We heard yelling from above us, as we weaved our way through the sea of props under the stage. We burst out of the stage door and into the large casino lobby as we heard shouts from behind us, and I looked over my shoulder to see about twenty FBI agents running behind us.

We headed for the door where four casino bouncers were sternly surveying a rowdy crowd of people who were about to leave the casino.

We stopped behind the crowd and pushed our way into the middle of them, to blend in with him.

"Hey! Stop those four!" One of the FBI agents yelled behind us and the bouncers turned to them, confused expressions plastered on their faces.

"Them! Stop them!" the agent yelled again. I pushed four particularly round men next to me, and they stumbled into the rest of the crowd, knocking them over. Shouts of 'hey!' and 'watch it!' erupted from the group and the bouncers stepped forward, grabbing the four men as we slipped through the door.

"Not them! Them!" I heard the agent yelling as the rest of his men picked their way carefully between the bodies on the ground. We ran to where a black car was waiting and Jack took the wheel with Atlas taking the passenger seat, leaving Merritt and I to take the two back seats.

Jack stamped his foot on the accelerator and we shot off, into the traffic as sirens started to blare behind us.

"Do you know where you have to go?" I asked Jack from the back seat.

"Yeah. Surton's Bridge. Right?" he called back.

"Right." I replied and looked behind us to see ten FBI cars in pursuit. "You're gonna want to step on it." I said, and the car lurched forwards as Jack pushed the accelerator to the floor.

"Whoa, whoa. Look out!" Atlas stammered from the passengers seat and we all cried out as Jack didn't stop for the red light, almost causing three accidents.

"Are we close?" Merritt asked.

"Yeah. Just up ahead." I replied.

Ahead, was the where we'd make our escape, and just as I'd predicted, the FBI had made a blockade with their cars in the middle of the bridge. As we got closer, Jack slammed on the brakes and we skidded to a halt in front of the blockade.

"This is the FBI. We have you surrounded. Get out of the car with your hands up." We saw Agent Cowan yell threw a loudspeaker.

"Stick to the plan." Atlas said, and we slowly got out of the car with our hands in the air, and a second later, four agents were on us. An agent came up behind me, and tried to push me against the car, but I grabbed his blazer and tried to push him away, pulling his walkie talkie out of his pocket as I did so.

"Hey. Enough." He ordered, and pushed me roughly against the car, but not before I hooked the walkie talkie onto the band I had around my leg, hiding it under my dress.

My hands were locked behind my back, and the four of us were walked over to the railing on the side of the bridge to wait. I looked over my shoulder to see the small boat, waiting below. As I looked back to the FBI agents, I glanced at the others, who were already working away at the locks on their handcuffs. I pulled the pin out from my bracelet and inserted it into the lock.

"Now, no little magic tricks. Okay?" Cowan patronizingly said to us.

"Of course not." Jack said.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Merritt added.

"That doesn't sound like us." Atlas continued.

"At all." I finished, and our four handcuffs dropped away. As the agents looked down at them, we climbed over the railing and held onto the four ropes that were waiting for us.

"Stop them!" Cowan screamed as we pushed out from the bridge and slid down the ropes and into the waiting boat below.

"Walkie." Jack called as Merritt ran into the cabin to start the boat. I unhooked it from my leg and threw it to him as we all crammed into the cabin. I looked up at the FBI agents leaning over the side of the bridge with their guns drawn.

"Now." I said to Jack and he cleared his throat.

"Fire!" he yelled in a perfect imitation of Cowan's voice. "At the engines. Fire!" he yelled again, and gun fire rained down on the boat. A couple hit the engines and flames erupted around them.

"Ready." Atlas warned and as the engines exploded he pulled a lever and the floor of the cabin dropped away and we fell two meters into the harbor below. We had to stay under water as we swam back towards the bridge so the agents would think we went up in the explosion.

So, we began to make our twenty meter, underwater swim, back to the bridge. I looked around me and saw Merritt and Atlas up ahead, but I couldn't see Jack anywhere. I looked behind me and as I saw pieces of boat floating to the bottom of the harbor, I saw Jack getting sucked down too.

Without hesitating, I turned around and swam back towards the boat. I dodged a piece of debris and swam downwards, towards Jack who was trying to swim against the pull.

When I reached him, I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the way of the boat, but when I looked to him his eyes weren't focused and he looked like he was about to pass out from lack of oxygen.

Since an early age, I'd been trained to hold my breath for a long time. Some fear my Mum used to have about me drowning at the beach, but Jack didn't have that luxury.

So, I pulled him close to me, making him wrap his arms around my waist, as I held onto him with one of my arms and began to swim us both back to the bridge.

We were about five meters away when my vision began to blur and stars danced in front of my eyes. Jack had now gone limp, and just as I thought I couldn't hold on any longer, my hand broke the surface of the water, followed by my head and I gasped in big lungful's of air.

At the side of one of the bridge's pylons, Atlas and Merritt were standing on the edge of a pontoon watching anxiously for Jack and I to emerge. I dragged him over to the pontoon, where the others hauled him up the ladder and onto the slats of wood.

I clambered up the ladder and we all crowded around Jack who was still, until a second later when he spluttered and coughed up a lungful of water. We helped him to sit up and he took in big gasps of air.

"You okay?" I panted.

"Better." He gasped. "Thanks." He added.

"You know the plan was to only pretend to die, right?" I asked.

"Sshh." Merritt said, holding his finger up to his lips as we heard the FBI agents talking from the bridge.

"They're dead. No-one could've survived that…I never ordered you to shoot them." We heard Cowan say, annoyed to the agents. Then there was the slam of car doors, the roar of engines and then everything was silent, apart from the lapping of water on the pontoon.

"Oh man." I groaned and leant against the bridge's pillar.

"Well done, kid. You've joined the big league now.." Merritt said, sitting back aswell.

"I can't believe that worked." I said with a laugh and Merritt chuckled too, and soon all four of us where laughing out of exhaustion, adrenaline and amazement.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Beginning Of The End

'Their Final Trick' the headline read. 'Renound magicians, The Four Horsemen have died when their boat blew up on the Surton River in Las Vegas last night. The FBI have been named as responsible for the deaths of Jack Wilder, Merrit McKinney, Taylor Court and Daniel Atlas, but are yet to issue a statement. Tributes to the late magicians have flown in from all over the world from their many fans, with many hoping that this is just another of one of their incredible tricks.' I read and then handed the paper to Atlas.

"We are officially dead." I announced and looked out the window of the plane, as we flew back to New York. "Feels strange, doesn't it? We could start a whole new life if we wanted to."

"We have to finish what we started." Atlas said as he handed the paper to Merritt.

"So, what's the plan, boss?" Jack asked.

"We have everything we need to make this work. We just need to put it together." Atlas replied and pulled out a notepad and pen. "This is going to be a spectacle. So we want all of New York to see because this is for them. So, we'll split up to get them talking and then bring it all together in the one place everyone knows in New York."

"Times Square." I said.

"Which will already be packed because of New Year's Eve." He continued. "We are going out with a show people will never forget." He finished and for the rest of the flight we worked on our show; to make it the best the world had ever seen.

It was early morning by the time we touched down in New York. We couldn't go back to our old apartment, because that was technically still a crime scene, so we found the first motel available and booked into four rooms on the ground floor, which opened onto the seating area of a swimming pool.

It was late by the time I dumped my stuff onto the bed. The others had gone to bed, but I didn't feel tired as I looked out the window at the pool. It looked so inviting, and seeing as no one else would be around, I decided to go for a swim to get some time to myself.

So, after buying a pair of cheap swimmers from the lady at the front desk, I took a weight from the exercise room and slid into the pool. I picked up the weight and it dragged me down to the bottom of the pool, where I sat cross-legged and let my mind wonder. I thought about our upcoming show on New Year's eve, which was in three days and about what would happen after the final show. Would we all go our separate ways? Would we ever see each other or perform again?

I opened my eyes and looked through the clear water up at the disappearing moon. I hadn't realised it before, but I saw a figure standing by the edge of the pool, and I was pretty sure they were watching me. I let go of the weight and kicked up to the surface. I wiped the water away from my eyes and looked up to where I saw Jack standing by the pool.

"Seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds." He said, looking at his watch. "Very impressive." He said and sat down at the edge of the pool.

"You were just standing there watching me this whole time?" I asked, treading water.

"No, I just got here." He replied.

"Yet you were timing me." I pointed out.

"Ah…" He started, but licked his lips and shook his head, at a loss for what to say.

I laughed as I floated over and pulled myself up to sit beside him.

"Thanks." I said as he handed me a towel.

"So…" he started after a pause.

"So…" I agreed.

"Ready for the big reveal?" he asked, giving me a sideways smirk.

"Oh yeah." I nodded. "But what happens after?"

"Well, our instructions from the Eye run out after that. So, we wait until we get new ones." He replied.

"And how often do the instructions come?" I asked.

"Don't know." He shrugged. "Every time it's different…Have anything to go back to?"

"I don't know. Sort of, I guess." I considered. "Finish a degree, I suppose." I said, thinking back to my studies before I'd become involved wtih the Horsemen. "What about you?"

"No clue." He replied. "I was dead before, I could do anything. But now, things will be different."

"Maybe they'll be better. At least you won't have to steal wallets anymore to get money." I pointed out.

"You never know. Once you're a pick pocket, you never really break out of that habit." He said.

"Touché." I replied and handed him his wallet, which I'd just taken out of his pocket. He gave one of those grins that lit up his face as he took the wallet, shaking his head.

I looked past the pool and above the rooftops where the sun was just peaking over the horizon. 'Two days to go.' I thought to myself. 'And then it'll all be over.'

 **A/N: I all! So, I mentioned previously that would be four stories in this series, and I wanted to know how you'd like me to upload them. If you'd like me to keep them all in one place in this story, with a divider in between each, or have seperate stories for each one. I hope this makes sense, and let me know what you'd like.**

 **Thank you so much for reading!**

 **Best wishes,**

 **Amy :)**


	10. Chapter 10 - Showdown

December 31st

New Year's Eve

New York City

Tonight was the night, and as I weaved my way through the throngs of people packing Central Park I could barely contain my excitement, or nerves, or whatever they were. But I was ready.

The plan was to get the attention of people all over New York, so the others were spread out at the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Centre, where we knew there would be big crowds. We would then congregate in Times Square where we would do our big reveal and expose Michael Haist for the thief he was.

I climbed up onto on of the picnic tables in the center of Central Park and people stared, but once I pulled back the hood on my jacket they began to cheer and pulled out their phones to film.

"Happy New Year." I called to the crowd and six, bright blue strobe lights shot into the night sky from around the table. "It's good to be back…And to those of you with a keen eye you may have realised that, no, I am not dead." I said and they laughed. "Now, can everyone feel the wind blowing?" I asked and they all nodded. "Okay, wind is something that we cannot control isn't it? It's something produced by a whole lot of boring science, and science can explain a lot of things. But can it explain this." I said and held out my hand in the direction the wind was blowing, and with the other, pressed a button on a tiny remote control in my pocket, shutting off the wind machines, hidden in the trees. The crowd gasped and applauded as the wind stopped. "Now let's make the wind go down." I said, and lowered my hand as I turned the wind machines back on, and tilted them towards the ground. I strong wind blew down on the crowd and their hair and clothes were plastered to their faces and bodies. "You know what? Let's just make it go crazy." I said, and spun the fans in circles and upside down, forcing the audience to cover their eyes as their hair whipped in their faces, but they cheered all the same.

"Now, we have a very special finale prepared just for you. So head over to Times Square and see what the fuss is about." I said before I jumped off the table, and headed for Times Square.

The four of us all converged in the middle of Times Square, where a large flat, wooden box was surrounded my warning tape. We ripped it apart and stepped onto the box, which rose, three metres into the air and multicoloured lights, flashed in patterns on every side of the box as loud, dramatic music blasted from the speakers.

The crowded square screamed and cheered as they pulled out their phones and swarmed around our stage.

"What is magic really about?" Danny asked the crowd as the floor lit up, sending blinding light into the night sky and illuminating us against the bright billboards of the square.

"It's about faith." Jack said.

"Belief." Merritt continued.

"And trust." I finished.

"But what happens when these qualities are not used for magic. What if they're used to cheat and lie for personal gain or greed?" Danny asked.

"Well, then it's no longer magic." Jack answered.

"It's a crime." Merritt added.

"So, tonight, we're going to set a few things right." I finished.

"But first, we would like to invite our special, VIP guest up onto the stage. The Mayor of New York City, Michael Haist, whom we believe is watching this from that building over there." Danny said, pointing to the building closest to the stage, which was the Mayor's office. I looked with the crowd and saw him waving.

"Come on up here, Michael." I called to him and he disappeared from his window, and emerged a moment later as the crowd let him through. A set of steps emerged from the side of the stage and he climbed them, the audience cheering all the way as he waved to them.

"Now we have something we would like to confess." Merritt said.

"The City of New York was not chosen by chance for our final show." Jack continued in a more serious tone.

"You have all had something taken from you, and we would like to give it back." I added.

"Now, Mr Haist, is this your current bank balance?" Danny asked him and the sum of seventy-seven, million, six-hundred-and-eighty-two thousand, three-hundred-and-ninety-six dollars and ninety-four cents, was lit up through the office lights across the face of the building. It hadn't been too hard to make it happen. We just had to bribe the cleaners.

"Yes, it is." Haist replied slightly shocked that we'd reveal such private information.

"Are you sure?" I asked, and we all looked to the building again as six-hundred-and-eighty-two thousand, became six-hundred-and-eighty- thousand. "Oh! It seems your balance has gone down by two-thousand dollars." I said in mock surprise and the audience became quiet. Through the hushed crowd, the sound of someone's phone went off.

"Who's phone was that?" Merritt asked.

"Uh, mine." I man said timidly from the crowd, holding up his hand.

"And is it my understanding that the message was from your bank?" Merritt asked.

"Uh, yeah." He gulped.

"Please, read it out to us." Merritt asked.

"Mr Loyd, we are just informing you that…that…that two-thousand dollars has just been added to your bank account." He read in amazement as the audience gasped and murmured.

"Check it out. It's happening again." Jack said, pointing at the building and we watched as the numbers of Haist's bank account began to tumble. And as they did, phone's started going off through the audience and shouts of surprise and delight erupted from the crowd.

"This is all part of the show, yes?" Haist asked in my ear.

"Of course." I nodded. "It is a part of the show."

"If everyone could quieten down, we've got some explaining to do, I think." Merritt said and the crowd hushed.

"Now, over the past few months Mayor Haist here, has increased taxes to help the homeless population of New York find work and get back to their old lives." Merritt said.

"And as good citizens, you've been paying his taxes dutifully." Danny continued. "And I don't know about you, but to me it doesn't seem to be working."

"No. It's been having quite the opposite effect really." I said. "In the last few months, the homeless population of New York has actually risen. And do you want to know why?" I asked the audience and they nodded, slightly confusedly.

"Because, the Mayor has not been putting the money towards the nobel cause." Jack added. "Mr Haist, would you like to tell the audience where the money is going exactly?" he asked him, and Haist gave him a murderous glare.

"That's okay, I'll tell them." Jack said, patting Haist on the shoulder. "Your precious, hard-earned money has gone straight from your pockets into the Mayor's own, private bank account." He finished and the crowd muttered and gasped in shock and disbelief.

"We thought we'd enlighten you of some of his most recent purchases, which include a casino in Las Vegas, a mansion in Florida and a first class holiday to Japan." I listed.

"You might be asking yourself, what this has to do with the level of homelessness rising. Well, for some who were already struggling, the Mayor's greedy taxes have caused them to lose their homes, their jobs and their families." Merritt explained.

"And so tonight, we're not just giving the money back to the regular citizens, but the remaining money from the Mayor's account has been sent into the bank accounts of every homeless person in New York." Danny said and the audience applauded and cheered.

"Is there anything you'd like to say to your citizens?" I asked Haist who had a whole range of different emotions plastered on his face.

"Why you…" he started and lunged at me, but I snapped my fingers and a shackle appeared out of the floor and locked itself around his ankle. The audience watched and cheered as the amount on the building ticked down to zero. I looked out over the crowd who were laughing and crying with joy, hugging those around them and still staring down at their phones in disbelief.

"We'd like to thank you, New York." I called.

"For being a great audience." Jack continued.

"And for sticking with us until the end." Merritt added.

"We are the Four Horsemen. Goodnight!" Danny yelled and we all waved as the audience whistled and cheered as the lights flashed again and the music blasted. From the sides of the stage, huge canons shot wads of one dollar notes into the hair, showering the crowd in money with our faces printed on them.

I looked around at the others who all had huge grins on their faces. We all had the same thought at once and we put our arms around each other in a huge group hug, laughing and cheering as the crowd began chanting.

"Ten…nine…eight…" they yelled and we kept out arms around each other as we looked to the center tower in the middle of the square, which was displaying the countdown till midnight."…seven…six…five…" they continued as we held onto each other tightly.

"…four…three…two…one… Happy New Year!" the crowd cheered as fireworks exploded into the sky. The four of us let go of each other and cheered as well.

As I looked around at everyone beaming as they watched the fireworks, my eyes landed on Jack who noticed me looking and grinned at me. Before I could stop myself, I walked over to him and kissed him quickly on the lips. I stepped back, slightly alarmed by what I'd done. He must've seen the alarmed look I had on my face because he grinned and I took that as him telling me he didn't mind. So, this time I wrapped one of my arms around his waist and kissed him again. I must have taken him by surprise, because it took him a few moments before he held my face with his hands and kissed my back.

Our moment didn't last as long as I would have liked it to because I heard people in the crowd whistling and a smile spread onto my face. And just like that, our kiss was over as we both started grinning, and were soon leapt on by Danny and Merritt.

As the fireworks continued to explode above us, we heard the sound of sirens approaching, and I guessed that the news of our 'deaths' hadn't lasted long.

"Time to go." I said as I saw FBI cars stopping behind the crowds. Jack kicked a button on the side of the stage and four dummies, each dressed as us, appeared out of a trapdoor in the stage.

They took our places as went climbed down into the bottom of the large box, and out a back door. We ran through the crowds and out of the square, disappearing from our audience and from the FBI.


	11. Chapter 11 - Epilogue

1st of January

"Magicians, the Four Horsemen have stunned the world, by not only proving that they are not dead, but also by exposing the Mayor of New York, Michael Haist, who was using tax payers money for his own personal use." The news reporter read and showed a video of Haist being taken away by FBI agents. "The Horsemen haven't been seen since their final act, which has left the world wondering if they've gone into hiding, gone their separate ways, or a back together planning their next show." The reporter finished and I looked away from the television in the far corner of the diner.

I was sitting in a booth, opposite Jack and Danny and Merritt was sitting in the one behind us, leaning over the back. All of us had hoodies, caps and sunglasses on, as we were still wanted criminals, especially now after we technically stole all of Haist's money, though he did steal it in the first place.

"So what happens now?" I asked.

"We continue on with our lives." Merritt said behind me.

"Until we get another message from the Eye." Danny added.

"So, this is goodbye?" I said, looking at Jack.

"For now." He smiled.

And one be one, we all got up and left the diner, where outside, Danny and Merritt got into their cars, and Jack climbed onto his motorbike, which he'd promised me he'd be having lessons for. I walked to the side of the road and was about to hail a taxi when a playing card flew past my face, wedging itself into the tree beside me. The Queen of Hearts.

I pulled it out of the wood and threw it back to a smirking Jack. "There's room for one more." He said and grinned as he threw me a helmet. I thought for a moment before the corners of my mouth curled up into a smile, and I walked over to the bike.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I climbed on, behind him.

"Don't know yet. We'll just see where we end up." He said and started the engine.

"Good. I trust you." I said.

"Don't you remember what I said? Every girl I get close to, I end up taking their trust, and…" he began.

"Yeah, yeah. Their wallets." I interrupted. "But how many of them takes yours instead?" I said and held up his wallet in front of him.

"Okay, okay. Point taken." He laughed. "You ready?" he asked as he revved the bike.

"Let's do it." I said and held onto him tightly, as we roared away from the diner. And just like that, the Four Horsemen disappeared, ready and waiting for our next show.

 **A/N: So...that's the end of the first story in this series. I hope you enjoyed it! I've decided to upload the other parts in this same story, so stay tuned, I'll post the first chapter of Part 2 in a few days!**

 **Also, a shoutout to Guest (you know who you are) for all the awesome reviews and support!**

 **Thanks guys!**

 **Stay awesome,**

 **Amy :)**


	12. Now You Don't 2

**Now You Don't 2**


	13. Chapter 1 - I'm Out

"This is the third time this year. I'm starting to think you no longer care about upholding the rules." Principal Raines fumed as I sat on the opposite side of her desk. She was holding up a tarot card with The Star printed on the front and an address and time written on the back, under the symbol of the Eye. "A primary school is no place for Tarot cards. I thought I made myself clear on that after the first time."

"I can assure you, Helen…" I began.

"Principal Raines." She interrupted.

"…Principle Raines, that it won't happen again." I finished.

"Make sure that it doesn't." she said and slid the card across the desk to me.

"It won't." I said, standing up and heading for the door.

"I took a risk hiring you, Miss Court. You were wanted by the FBI, but you proved that your time meddling in magic was behind you, and you've proved to be a valuable member of our teaching staff." Principal Raines said. "However, after this third incident, and your picture continuing to appear with Jack Wilder, a wanted man…This is your last chance." She threatened. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Principal Raines." I replied and left her office. Letting go of a breath as I leant my back against the closed door.

I put the card in the pocket of my dress as I walked back to my kindergarten classroom. It had been the third time I'd been contacted by the Eye this year and by now I was treading a very thin line.

School had finished over an hour ago, but I was staying back to finish writing school reports. I unlocked the door to my classroom and sat down at my desk, opening a document on the computer and stared at the seemingly never ending names.

I looked down as something fluttered down onto the desk in front of me. I smirked a little as I picked up the Queen of Hearts playing card. The sound of the far window opening caught my attention and I looked up to see Jack Wilder climbing through it.

"One day, you are going to get caught." I said to him as he straightened his leather jacket, before closing the window.

"Never." He smirked. "Did you get it?" he asked, holding up his own tarot card.

"Yeah, and I nearly got fired for it." I said, holding mine up.

"So, you in?" he asked hopefully, sitting on the edge of one of the low desks.

"Nup. I'm out, Jack." I replied. "It was two years since our show and we'd heard nothing from the Eye. I couldn't wait around for ever. So, like I said I would, I finished my degree and now I've got a job." I shrugged. "You know what a job is? Real world…adulting…being a responsible and valued member of society…Besides, do you know how long it took to get a pardon from the FBI?"

"You won't even come to the show?" he asked as I got up and walked over to the class schedule on the wall.

"I can't." I said. "I have to mark homework, plan an excursion…" I muttered, but I stopped suddenly as I felt Jack standing close behind me. "…Um, finish reports…" I continued as I felt him brush my hair away from my shoulder. "…and…" I mumbled, trying to focus as I felt his breath on my neck. "…um." I finished, and turned to face him, but before I could say anything, his lips were on mine and he held my face in his hands.

"Wait. The door." I said, pulling away from him.

"It's locked." He replied, kissing me again.

"I thought nothing was ever locked." I breathed and I felt him grin against my lips. I held onto his waist and I kissed him back as the phone on my desk rang.

"Leave it." Jack breathed.

"I can't. It's probably Mrs Jeffries." I said quietly.

"What?" he asked, pulling back and looking at me. I gave him an apologetic look, before slipping away from him and grabbing the phone off it's cradle as I sat down in my chair.

"This is Miss Court from KC." I said into the phone.

"Hello. It's Mrs Jefferies." A woman on the other end of the phone said.

"Hi, Mrs Jefferies. How are you?" I asked as I rolled my eyes and aimed a finger gun at my head as Jack smirked in amusement at how I knew who it would be on the other end of the line.

"I'm well thanks, dear." She replied. "Now listen. I was just wondering if the kids got a homework slip this week."

"Yes, they did get one. It should be in Cameron's bag, but if it isn't there I can email you a copy." I said, regurgitating the same line I said to her every week.

"Okay. Thank you, dear. Have a good weekend."She said.

"Thank you. You too." I said and put down the phone, shaking my head in disbelief at Jack.

"Every week, she calls, and every week she gets the same answer. But does that stop her calling? Nope." I said. "I've developed nervous twitch."

"Sounds like you need a break." Jack said. "Let's go out for dinner tonight."

"I really should get these reports done." I said, but his offer was tempting.

"They're not going anywhere." He pointed out, walking over to me.

"That's the problem." I huffed.

"Come on." He grinned, massaging my shoulders.

"Okay, fine." I gave in.

"Excellent. I'll see you at seven." He said and walked back over to the window. "I'll be backsame time, next week." He added.

"I know you will." I replied.

He'd come every week to try and get me to rejoin the Horsemen, but the answer was always 'no'.


	14. Chapter 2 - Dinner

By the time I got home it was 6:30pm, so I dumped my bag, changed out of my dress and hurriedly pulled on a pair of jeans, a maroon shirt, a leather jacket and a pair of chunky heeled boots.

I had just finished dragging a brush through my hair when there was a knock on my apartment door. I grabbed a purse on my way towards the door, and opened it to see Jack standing with his back to the door.

He was wearing his usual black jeans, leather jacket and black shirt. A smile spread onto his face as he turned around to face me.

"Hi." He grinned.

"Evening." I replied, as I closed the door behind me. "So, where are we off to?" I asked as we walked down the stairwell.

"Well, I thought nothing fancy because you're probably tired. So, we're just going to a diner on the other side of the city." He replied.

"How'd you know I'd be tired?" I asked as we walked out into the frosty street.

"Because you always complain about it." he replied as we stopped beside his motorbike.

"And what if I told you I wasn't tired for once?" I asked as he climbed onto the bike and handed me a helmet.

"I'd say you were lying." He replied with a smirk and I rolled my eyes as I pulled the helmet over my head and did up the chin strap as the bike roared into life.

"Ready?" Jack asked as I climbed on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Let's go." I said and we roared off down the street. It didn't take us long to reach the other side of the city, and we were soon pulling up outside the diner. A smiling waitress met us at the door and escorted us over to an empty booth, where we ordered burgers and chatted about our news.

"So, Taylor." Jack began, looking down at his burger. "We, uh, actually have a show tomorrow night in New York." He said and I sighed, ready to give him the 'I'm done' lecture again, but before I could he continued. "I'm not trying to get you to perform. I'm just asking if you'd come and watch." He finished.

"I don't know." I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I mean, it's just that it's a bit risky; being seen, and I'm already skating on very thin ice with my job. I just don't know."

"Please, just come and watch. That's all you have to do." He said taking my hand from across the table.

"Sorry, Jack." I said, shaking my head.

"Okay, well I guess that you'll just…" he began and then grabbed my wrist, holding my hand up in front of my face. "…stare at the palm of your hand and as your eyes change focus you begin to notice only the sound of my voice talking to the voice in your head. This is that voice." He finished.

I looked out from behind my hand at his triumphant looking face. "Please don't turn into Merritt." I said and the triumphant look vanished.

"Not working?" he asked.

"No." I answered.

"Fine, then." He sighed, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a couple of playing cards. "I didn't want to have to do this. Like, really didn't But you give me no choice…I'll have to use the oldest form of persuasion that always works in the end."

"Which is?" I asked skeptically.

"Embarrassment." He grinned and threw one of the cards at the Juke Box in the corner. It hit the button for one of the songs and ABBA's 'Does Your Mother Know?' started blasting in the diner and everyone turned around to look at the sudden noise.

"What are you doing?" I asked

worriedly. He didn't reply but as the guitar started to blast he leapt up onto the seat and began playing electric guitar along to it. People at the diner looked at him strangely and then they brought out their phones as Jack began to sing along to the lyrics.

"You're so hot. Teasing me. Saw you're blue, but I can't take a chance on a chick like you. That's something I wouldn't do." Both Jack and the Juke Box sang.

"Jack. Stop. Sit down." I hissed, but he shook his head and kept singing.

"Please." I begged.

"Only if you come to the show." He replied in between song lyrics.

"What? But…" I said, and my voice trailed off as I peaked around the edge of the booth and saw all the patrons of the diner filming the great Horsemen, Jack Wilder singing at the top of his lungs in a New York diner.

"Alright. Fine." I hissed, fearing that the videos would end up online.

"Do you promise?" he asked.

"Yes. I promise." I said hurriedly and grabbed his arm, pulling him back down as the diner applauded.

"Okay, one sec." he said and stood up again to face the diner and bowed to his cheering fans. Once again, I grabbed his arm and pulled him down beside me.

"I can't believe you did that." I said amazed, shaking my head as we walked throw a snow covered Central Park after dinner.

"Yeah, me neither. But it worked, though." He added. "Like I said, embarrassment always works." He said smugly.

I hated that smug look of his sometimes, so when he wasn't looking, I swiped a handful of snow off the nearest park bench.

"Yeah, embarrassment works, but surprises do too." I said, and stuffed the handful of snow, down the back of his shirt. He cried out in shock and tried to brush away the snow, before cringing as he felt it run down his back.

"Ah, I hate being cold." He grimaced.

"You're gonna pay for that." He assured me, but I had already turned around and started sprinting away from him through the snow. As I ran, I turned around to see if he was following, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Jack?" I called, slowing down. "I know you're hiding somewhere." I said, looking around in a circle.

Suddenly, there was movement beside me and I started away from Jack who lunged at me, tackling me to the ground and we both fell into the snow.

I landed on top of him, but as our eyes met, I dumped a handful of snow on his face and leapt up triumphantly. I began sprinting away again, but suddenly, my legs where knocked out from under me, by a flurry of playing cards and I fell, face first into the snow.

I spat the snow out of my mouth and turned over to see where Jack was, when he flopped down into the snow beside me.

"I hate you." I said as he grinned up at the stars in the clear night sky.

"No you don't." He replied, not taking his eyes of the stars.

"Prove it." I said, propping myself up on my elbow and turning to face him.

"Easy." He said and leant on his elbow too. He slid his other hand under my hair and held onto the back of my neck, pulling me towards him as if to kiss me. He stopped when his lips where a few centimeters from mine, waiting for me to respond, and I did, quickly closing the gap and pressing my lips against his.

I should've seen it coming, but a handful of snow was shoved down my neck and I shuddered away from Jack.

"We were even!" I cried and as he laughed I whacked him on the arm.


	15. Chapter 3 - And A Show

The Gazette Conservatorium

October 12th

8:00pm

Section H

Row 2

Seat 6

The next night, I took my seat in the huge conservatorium, filled with an audience buzzing with excitement. Soon, the lights dimmed and dramatic, electronic music began to play as there was a flash of blinding light on stage, and as it dulled the Horsemen appeared. The audience screamed and applauded and I found myself grinning as I clapped too.

"Thank you. Thank you." Danny said, waving to the crowd. "It's good to be back…Now, we'd like to teach you the real meaning of magic."

Their show went off without a hitch, performing trick after trick effortlessly but making the audience cheer all the same.

"Now for our last trick, we need one volunteer." Jack called and almost every member of the audience put up their hand.

"Okay, let's see." Merritt said, stepping forward and rubbing his hands together before he put his fingers to his temples. "Now, I'm getting a certain member of the crowd, and they're in section…H." he said and the people around me cheered. "In row…1…no, two." He finished and my row cheered. This was getting a little too close for comfort and I glanced down at Jack who seemed to be grinning right at me. "And in seat number…uh…six." Merritt finished.

I stood up quickly, but only made it to the aislewhen the spotlight found me.

"Well, if it isn't our friend and fellow Horsemen, Taylor Court." Merritt called and the audience exploded as people began to recognise me.

I didn't know what to do. I just stood there, frozen to the spot in shock. I had no idea what was happening, but one thing I was sure of was that this wasn't a coincidence. I looked down out at the crowd and saw phones and film cameras all pointed in my direction.

"Taylor, come down to the stage and join us." Danny said and the crowd waited for me to walk down to them. I considered my options. I could try and run, but then the audience would know that something was up, but if I went down onto that stage, my anonymity would be gone and I would have a lot of groveling to do in front of Principal Raines. I looked back at everyone with their cameras pointed at me, many of which were already looking down at their screens, no doubt posting them online.

'I guess I'll just have to grovel.' I thought to myself and glanced around once more, before stiffly making my way down the steps and onto the stage.

"What in the world are you doing?" I hissed at Jack as I climbed the steps at the stage.

"Smile and wave." He said through his grin and nudged me. I turned to the crowd and plastered a smile on my face as I waved. "You have some serious explaining to do." I said to him sideways, but he ignored me and walked over to the others.

"Now, for our final trick, we would like to…" Danny began but was cut off when his micdropped out. "…we would…" he tried again but it was no use.

"…We would like to show you…" Merritt said but then his mic cut out as well, and then suddenly all the stage lights blacked out.

"Is this part of the show?" I asked, walking over to the others, but before I got my answer a pixilated face appeared on the large screens behind us.

"The Horsemen." It began in an ever-changing voice. "They may pride themselves on acting like modern day Robin Hoods, but really they're just common thieves and fugitives from the law." It said and the crowd muttered as they looked around nervously at each other.

I heard the sound of sirens and distant voices shouting. "And now that they've exposed their fourth member, I thought it only fair to have the FBI have another crack at them. Let's let them in, shall we?" The voice said and the sound of doors banging open filled the conservatorium.

"Get off the stage. Go to the exit plan." Danny ordered.

"Wha-?" I started, but Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me to the back of the stage, behind the screens where there was a set of stairs that lead down, under the stage. We wove through props and scaffolding until we reached the emergency exit, where we burst out onto a street that looked nothing like New York.

Ahead of us was a river with stone buildings lining either side of it and bridges set every hundred meters apart with stalls and buskers set up along it's sides.

"Is there a film lot behind this place?" Merritt asked, breaking our stunned silence.

"No. This should be just a back alley." Danny said, as I walked further out into the street and my stomach flipped as I caught of something that definitely shouldn't be in New York.

"Guys…" I called, my voice trailing off and they looked to where I was staring, straight up at the Eiffel Tower.

"H-How is this possible?" Danny asked, and the three of us shook our heads in astonishment.

There was a loud, high-pitched cackle from beside us and we looked to see a man leaning against the wall of the river with his head in a newspaper.

"I believe in your particular area of expertise, it's called magic." He said and folded up the newspaper as he turned to face us. He had curly brown hair and perfect teeth, and apart from those two obvious traits he looked exactly like Merritt.

"Uh…" was all I could manage as I tapped Merritt who was already staring at him.

"Chase?" Merritt managed and Chase grinned back. "Meet Chase, my twin brother." Merritt said, completely stunned, as a large group of black SUVs pulled up and men began to swarm around us.

"What's going on?" I asked Chase, stepping forward. As soon I moved towards him, the crowd of men all pulled out guns and four stepped forward to hold us firmly by the shoulders.

"Chase, what is this?" Merritt asked as I was walked back to the others.

"Let me explain. You walked through the door in New York and came out into a street in Paris, France." Chase said happily. "Don't you just love it?" he grinned round at us, but when he soon realised he wasn't going to get much from his audience his grin disappeared and he nodded to the men.

The four of us were pulled roughly towards theblack SUVs, where Merritt and Danny were pushed into the back seat and Jack was shoved into the passengers.

"Hey!" Jack yelled angrily to the man holding me as I was roughly pulled away to the SUV behind.

"Alright." I said to the man holding me as I was pushed into the car. The passenger door slammed as Chase put on his seatbelt.

I had never felt so clueless in my entire life. I was confused and angry; half at our current situation and half at the others for exposing me.

The cars screeched away and followed the river, until turning away from it and heading towards the center of Paris.

"Did Merritt tell you that we were partners once? We used to perform together." Chase said keenly, turning around in his seat.

"Where are we going?" I asked, ignoring his question and wiping the smile off his face.

"To meet my boss." He replied.

"Anyway we were partners once, but to cut the long story short, he preferred the solo life and, uh, dumped me at the curb." He said and I gave him a look of disbelief when the car slowed.

"Here we are." Chase said as we pulled into a large, elaborate building's, circular driveway. As soon as we'd stopped there were people waiting to drag me out of the car. "Have fun." Chase added as I was marched inside, past a gold encrusted lobby and into an elevator, where the others were waiting.

"You okay?" Jack asked me, but I ignored him.

Everyone was silent as we climbed floor after floor, caught up in their own thoughts. 'There is no way I'm going to be able to talk my way out of this one.' I thought to myself. 'I am so fired.'

The doors behind us pinged open and we were met with loud rock music playing. We turned around and saw a small, round man wearing a bright purple suit, sporting a buzz cut, but full length beard and moustache, with gold rings wedged onto every one of his fat fingers, sitting on a white sofa, tapping his foot to the music.

"Ah, the Horsemen." He said in a thick French accent. "Please, come in. I am very much looking forward to working with you."


	16. Chapter 4 - Fugitive And Fired

"Come in." the man said again, but more forcefully this time and we were pushed out of the elevator. "Much better. Let me introduce myself my name is…" He started, stand up and coming to meet us, but Danny interrupted.

"…You're Alexander Pient. The most successful business man in France". Danny said, raising an eyebrow.

"Europe, actually." Pient said. "So, would you like to know how I got you to here?" he asked excitedly, and when he was only met with frowns from us he continued. "Well, in your eagerness to get off the stage and out of the building you were oblivious to what was going on around you. And, as magicians call it the element of surprise, your brother Chase was waiting to hypnotize you. We then flew you all the way to my beautiful country, created a replica of the building, which opened out into Paris. You proceeded to run out the door, as if nothing had ever happened…And, voila!" He finished proudly.

"Very impressive. So, why?" Jack asked.

"Well, take a seat." The man said and a firm hand was placed on my shoulder to escort me over to the sofa.

"I know how to walk." I said, rounding on himand throwing his hand off my shoulder. I walked over to the sofa and sat between Danny and Merritt.

"Now, what I would like from you, is to retrieve something for me." Pient said. "While my businesses have brought me wealth and fame, there are some issues from my past that I would like to have, well, erased."

"What kind of issues?" I asked.

"Right now, that is not important, my dear. What is, is that they are in the past and I would prefer it if people never found out about it." he replied.

"The file is kept in the largest databank in Europe. How your team gets past security that's up to you." He said.

"So, you want us to steal this file and destroy it?" I asked.

"Exactly. Simple." He nodded. "This is perfect for you, no? You're magicians and thieves."

"Were." I muttered.

"And we would do this, why?" Merritt asked.

"Because back in New York you're wanted criminals, but here with my money and influence I can get you a knew life, new identities, everything." Pient replied and I noticed he had directed what he'd said at me. "And, if you don't, then I'll have you killed." He added with a smile.

"Listen, Poirot. I have a perfectly good life back home, and I'm out. I'm not a Horsemen anymore." I said, standing up and folding my arms as I looked down on the short man.

"My name is not Poirot. And, in that case, I will just let you go, then, yes?"

He said, and I was a little taken aback.

"Oh, but then I'd still have to kill you because you know about this little venture and could easily tell anyone. So, to bad." He finished with a smirk.

"I'm not stealing a thing for you." I said.

"Neither am I." Jack said, standing up too.

"It seems that a consensus is forming, so, yeah, I agree with them." Merritt added, joining us.

"Actually, we'll do it." Danny said.

"What?" Jack and I chorused together.

"Thank you." Pient said, shaking Danny's hand. "Feel free to use this space for whatever it is you do, and my men are at your disposal." He finished and entered the lift with his men, leaving us alone in the room.

Merritt, Jack and I turned to Danny waiting for an explanation.

"We've got the skills to do this, so why don't we, but expose him instead of destroying the file." Danny suggested. "Look, even if we get this file, he'll never let us go."

"It's a big what if." Merritt said. "With no help."

"The Eye will help us." Danny replied.

"Really? We haven't heard from them in over two years. What makes you think they'll be there now?" I asked, starting to get angry.

"Because I'll ask them too." He replied.

"You've been talking to the Eye?" Merritt asked.

"Yes." Danny shrugged.

"When? For how long?" I asked.

"Oh, so suddenly you're interested in this again?" he asked skeptically.

"I was always interested. But because of you're ego, I couldn't wait around any longer. So I left, got a new life, which, now thanks to you, is pretty much ruined." I replied angrily. "Why the hell did you expose me?"

"The Eye told us that you were needed for something big that was about to happen. They didn't say what, only that your skills would be needed." He replied heatedly.

"I was out. You should have respected my decision." I said as my phone rang.

I pulled it out and saw that Principal Raines was calling and my heart sank. I put my hand to my forehead as I accepted the call and walked to the big, glass windows that looked out over the streets of Paris, which were bathed in the setting sun.

"Principal Raines. How are you?" I asked into the phone.

"I've been better, Miss Court." She replied and I could tell from her voice that she was angry. "Have you seen the news? I'm sure you have, because your picture is plastered all over it. You promised me that you're involvement with these Horsemen was over."

"And it is…" I tried.

"Well, clearly it isn't." she interrupted. "I gave you one more chance and not only have you broken your promise, but you've also been absent from school for three days in a row with no explanation." She continued. "You do realise that you have a kindergarten class that is relying on you?"

"I know. I'm sorry. I'll be back as soon as I can." I said.

"It doesn't matter. You've proven one too many times that you're not cut out for this job. So, I'm sorry, but I have to let you go." She said sternly.

"No, wait. Helen…" I began.

"Principal Raines." She interrupted.

"…Principal Raines, give me one more chance." I pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but your replacement starts tomorrow." She replied. "I wish you luck for the future and I hope you find a job that better suits your lifestyle." She finished and hung up.

I stood at the window with my phone in my hand, still held up to my ear. I'd been fired? I shoved my phone back into my pocket, covered my face with my hands and groaned loudly.

"You okay?" I heard Jack's voice behind me.

"Oh, fine. Except for the fact that I just got fired." I said, turning to face him with a fake smile plastered onto my face.

"Taylor, I'm sorry." He said sincerely, but I was fuming and I was about to dump all my anger and disappointment on him.

"Sorry isn't going to get my job back." I said. "I thought you of all people would accept my decision to do something useful with my life. I had responsibilities, twenty-six very little ones to be more specific, and now I've let them all down. Oh! But you wouldn't have a clue about responsibilities, or being anything other than a smooth talking, smart ass." I finished.

"I don't know what to say." Jack said and I could tell that he felt bad for what had happened and taken aback by what I'd just said, but in that moment I didn't care what he felt.

"Me neither." I replied and walked past him, back to the others.

"So, Danny. What's the plan, then?" I asked accusingly as Jack came in too.

"Paris has one of the oldest magic shops in Europe and has an old history with the Eye." He explained. "So, if we can get this file to them, then maybe they will help us." He finished as the elevator pinged open and Pient and Chase walked out.

"So, you have a plan?" Alexander smiled.

"Yeah. We have a plan." Danny nodded.


	17. Chapter 5 - Louis' House Of Magic

The next morning, Merritt, Jack and I followed Danny as he lead us down a small, crowded street and then into a small shop with a dirty sign which read, 'Louis' House of Magic'. Chase followed behind us, but left the other eight men outside to stand guard.

A bell tinkled as we entered into a dimly lit room with shelves piled high with magic tricks. There was no one in the shop and I waited beside Danny as he rang the small bell on the table. A tiny, shriveled man shuffled out from behind a curtain. He had beady, but kind eyes and a pair of glasses sitting on the edge of his long nose. If anyone should run a magic shop it was this tiny man because he looked exactly how an old wizard.

"Hi. Um, we need some supplies." Danny said to him.

"Je non parle anglaise." The man replied in French and Danny stuttered.

"He doesn't speak English." I said to him.

"Bonjour, monsieur." I said to the man. "We need some supplies." I continued in French.

"Bonjour, je m'appelle Louis. What do you need, my dear?" he asked, also in French.

"What do we need?" I asked Danny.

"Uh, we need invisible string, sleeves and osmotic material." Danny said.

"Hey, kids. Chase and I are going across the road to get a little drinkey-poo." Merritt said and opened the door for Chase, giving us a meaningful stare as he left.

I translated what Danny wanted to the man and he nodded curiously before disappearing back behind the curtain with Danny.

I wondered off to look around the shop. There were so many amazing things piled on every shelf. Something at the back of one of the dusty rows caught my eye and I pulled out a baton sized, metal rod. One of the ends was concave and had a small black button in the centre.

Unfortunately, my curiosity got the better of me and I pressed it. The rod suddenly grew in length and wrapped itself around my forearm, wrists and waist. I tried to pull it off but it had become solid and still once again. I tried to twist my arm out of the rod but that was no use, so I tried pushing the button again, but it was behind my back and I couldn't reach it.

"Want a hand with that?" Jack asked and I looked up to see him trying to hold back a grin.

"No." I said resolutely. I wasn't going to have an arguement with him and then ask for his help like I'd forgiven him.

"Okay then." He shrugged and began to walk away.

I sighed in annoyance and rolled my eyes. "Okay, wait." I said. "There's a button at the back." I said and he turned around with a smirk on his face.

I turned around and nodded to the button on the rod at my back.

"It's just a toy." Jack said as he reached for the button.

"Yeah, well…" I began.

"Geez!" he exclaimed as he pressed the button and I felt the rod extend again and I looked over my should to see it wrapping itself around Jack's wrist and then his waist too, before I was wrenched backwards against him as the rod solidified again, holding us together.

"Good job." I said to him over my shoulder and I tried to pull away but we were stuck to each other.

I heard a soft cackle from the counter and twisted around to see the old man looking at us with a huge, toothless grin spread across his face.

"It sticks to anything metal." He said in French and I looked down at my wrists, on which I had rings on both hands. I realised that I had a metal button on the top of my jeans and it took me a second to realise why it was wrapped around my forearm. When I was fifteen, I'd broken my arm and had had metal pins put in the bone.

"What did he say?" Jack asked behind me.

"It sticks to anything metal. You wearing a ring and a belt?" I asked and I felt his breathe on my neck as he looked down.

"Oh, yeah." He nodded.

"How do we get it to unstick?" I asked the man and he chuckled as he hobbled over to us.

"You _hold_ the button down." He replied in French and held the button. The rod loosened and shrunk back to it's original length, freeing Jack and I.

"Remember, with magic, the most obvious way out, isn't always the right one." the man continued, handing the rod back to me. "Your boyfriend was in such a rush to help that he didn't think the trick through." He finished and I opened my mouth to protest but he waved his hand to stop me. "When you've been around as long as I have, you notice these things…And also, you can't stay angry at him forever. He was just doing what was asked of him." He finished wisely and I glanced at Jack who was rubbing his wrist, but when I looked back to the man he was gone. How did he know what the Eye had asked of Jack?

"What was he saying?" Jack asked.

"Nothing." I replied, shaking my head.

"Listen, I'm sorry again, about…" he began, thinking my blunt answer was because I was still angry at him.

"It's okay." I shrugged, shaking my head. "It doesn't matter anymore." I sighed. "I'm sorry for taking it out on you."

"Hey, it's okay." He said. "You have every right to be mad." He smiled as the door opened and Merritt came back in looking angry, with a grinning Chase behind him. It seemed that Merritt hadn't been able to get rid of his twin.

"Where's the control freak?" Chase asked.

"Danny?" I asked.

"Yeah." Chase nodded.

"I'm here." I heard Danny's voice and I looked around to see him come out from behind the curtain, carrying a large box, followed by the elderly man. "Just getting the supplies."

"Do you have everything you need?" Chase asked.

"Yes." He replied. "Now we just need to work out how to get in."


	18. Chapter 6 - Places, And Action!

"All right. So, this data bank is made up of four banks, all joined at one central computer. But the access point we need is at the back, where we can take the file without any trace of it having been tampered with." Danny said, pointing to a blue print on the screen.

"Taylor, we'll need your computer skills to take the file and wipe the system clean of any evidence. We then need to get the file out without it being found by the metal detectors on the way out."

"And how do we do that?" I asked.

"Well, a while back we got something out using a playing card, so hopefully that'll work again this time." He replied.

"Well, if these blue prints are exact a playing card won't work. It's not big enough." I said.

"Big enough?" Danny asked.

"See the data point here?" I said pointing to the screen where a range of different sized points were stationed. "The smallest point is USB sized and that won't fit in a playing card. You need something thicker and wider to hide the port."

"Any ideas?" Merritt asked and I thought for a moment before putting my hand in my pocket and pulling out The Star tarot card.

"If this is sliced thinly enough, I can take apart a USB and hide it inside the card." I suggested. "But a tarot card is going to be much harder to throw than a normal card. We need time to practice."

"Then we'll practice." Jack said confidently.

"I think we're all missing one crucial detail here." Merritt said. "How do we get in?"

"There's only one person who's allowed inside, Harry Bonatt. He's your typical rich, narcissistic creep and no one gets in unless you're with him." Danny answered. "He usually has an entourage of two bodyguards, a scientist and a tech expert."

"Cute." I quipped.

"They're meeting at a French restaurant before inspecting the data bank. So, Merritt you need to be ready to get Mr Bonatt to fire his current entourage and be replaced with us. Mr Bonatt will then get us into the data banks to retrieve the file, all while being under Merritt's control."

"So, then what do we do once we get the file?" I asked.

"I've arranged with the Eye to meet at small café where we'll give them the file and we can get the hell out of here." Danny answered.

So, for the rest of the afternoon and late into the night, Merritt, Atlas and Jack worked out how to throw a tarot card. I sat on the ground and surrounded myself with wires and tweezers. I'd taken a simple 8GB USB and had set about dismantling it; taking it out of it's casing and flattening it's wires, which held the data, before slimming down the size of the USB's tip until it was the same width as the card.

As I'd taken off the first layer of the USB's tip, it'd sparked and caused a small flame ignite, which I quickly blew out before the others noticed.

Somehow Pient's men had a machine that had sliced the card in half, so now I had two flimsy pieces of card. I wound the wires onto one side of the first card, sticking them in place before placing the USB at the edge of the card, so it only stuck out half a millimeter, but was still enough for the data bank to read. I then glued the other half of the card on top, so that all the wires and USB were hidden inside the card.

"Alright, done." I said. "I've wired it so that there's very little metal involved, and only the world's strongest metal detector can pick it up. However, the real problem is getting it out because the sensors pick up metal and electrics. So, once the files in the USB, that's when it's going to become a problem." I explained.

"We'll just have to work something out when it comes to the time." Danny said as he threw a card to Merritt who caught it in his hat.

I stood up and spent the rest of the night learning how to throw the card. It was much harder because it was bigger and heavier, which meant that it was harder to maneuver and hide, but as the sun rose it had become like second nature.

We changed into our entourage outfits and did some last minute preparations. I was playing the role of 'tech expert' as I would be the one with the best excuse for snooping around the data bank if I was caught. I had on a black pencil skirt, black heels, an orange, satin blouse and a tight black blazer. I'd pulled my hair up into a bun and a pair of glasses sat on my nose. Danny and Jack were the bodyguards and Merritt was the scientist, which he'd insisted on still wearing his hat for.

We all had special sleeves attached to our jackets and shirts, which meant the card would fit more easily and would stick there if we needed it to. Our clothes were also made fromosmotic material, which meant that anything, in this case the card, could pass through without making a mark.

"Ready?" Danny asked us and we all nodded. He then turned to Pient who was watching us closely. "We need to get to Café Sept."

"My men will take you there now." Alexander replied and he waved us over to the elevator, which took us down to the lobby, where we walked out into the circular driveway and got into the two black Mercedes that were waiting.

After a short drive to the small café down a side street opposite the river, Danny, Jack and I waited in the car and watched through the tinted windows as Merritt headed inside and caught the attention of Harry Banott.

A few minutes later, a red faced Mr Banott appeared at the café's door yelling at his newly unemployed entourage, before being joined by Merritt who put his hand on Mr Bannot's shoulder and lead him over to the first Mercedes.

It was time to put this plan into action.


	19. Chapter 7 - Cards And Coffee

We pulled up outside a large glass building, where ten guards and a man in a sharp suit were waiting. Danny and Jack as the bodyguards got out of the cars before holding the doors open for me, Merritt and Mr Banott.

"Harry, my friend. Good to see you again." The man in the suit said, walking over the Banott to greet him as we stood behind.

Beside me, Merritt cleared his throat and something clicked in Banott's mind. "My people and I would like to inspect the banks." He said, ignoring the man's greeting.

"Of course. Follow me, please." The man said abruptly and lead us through a set of sliding glass doors, where we were followed by the ten security guards. "We need you all to remove any metal you have on you, so that the machines won't be compromised."

As the other three took off their belts and watches, I pulled off my rings and then proceeded through the metal detector, which immediately began blaring it's sirens. For a moment I feared that it had picked up the card, but then I remembered the pins in my arms. As two guards stepped forward to check me I quickly explained to them in French about my arm.

The man in the suit looked at me suspiciously, before waving to one of the guards who came forward holding a hand-held x-ray machine. He waved it over my forearm and inspected the screen before nodding to the man.

"Just a precaution, you understand." He said, pleased with the result and I nodded understandingly as the others cleared the detectors.

We were lead into a room that must have been cleaned of every single speck of dust as every wall and the floor was covered in white tiles. In the middle of the room was a set of four large data banks, all connected in the middle by the single computer screen that we'd studied in the blue prints.

"You and your people can…" the man began but he was interrupted by Banott.

"I want a coffee." He announced and I glanced at Merritt who's face was completely expressionless.

"Uh, sorry, Harry. We can't allow drinks in here." The man stammered, taken aback.

"This is not good enough. I am the one who pays you. I demand that you meet my needs." Mr Banott demanded, marching over to the opposite side of the room and the man and his guards followed him.

I small smile crept onto my face as Jack stepped in front of me for cover as I snuck around the back of the machine and pulled the card out from the hem of my skirt. I quickly plugged the USB into the port and searched through the files for Alexander Pient and found only one file under his name. I opened it to make sure it was what we were looking for and what I read made me raise my eyebrows.

The document held details of drug trafficking;shipments, collections and suppliers. 'No wonder Pient didn't want this dodgy past time out in the open.' I thought and was about to close the document when I happened to glance at the last date of his drug trafficking activities and saw that he had just ordered a shipment only three days ago.

"Fine! I will have a coffee later." I heard Banott cry and I quickly closed the document, saving it to the USB and then deleting it off the system. I wiped any evidence that it had even existed, before pulling out the USB.

"Where's the woman?" I heard the man in the suit ask.

"I'm here." I called back as I tucked the USB up my sleeve and hurried back to the other side of the machine. "I was just having a look at the system you use. I'm very impressed that you're using the latest technology; extra data sorters and …" I began, trying to sound like the tech expert I was.

"Search them, please." The man ordered and I felt two sets of strong hands grab onto my shoulders and pull us apart, to opposite corners of the room.

"Jacket." The younger looking guard said to me, and I cooperatively took of my jacket, which the second one took and searched. "Hands." The young guard said and I held up my arms, flicking the card out from up my sleeve and holding it at the back of my hand. The guard felt down both of my arms, before gesturing for me to turn around. As I turned I looked to Danny who was watching me, so I flicked the card to him and he caught it in his inner elbow as the guard checked his leg.

My guard continued to pat down my back and then my waist. "Arms up." He said and I turned back around, raising my arms in the air.

"Hey! Watch it, buddy." I said to him tensley as he got a little too up close and personal, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Jack glaring at the back of the guards head.

I didn't know where the card was at the moment, but I didn't have to wait long to find out as there was shout and the guards moved towards Merritt. "It's just the menu from the restaurant." He said as the guards pulled out a glossy brochure and went about inspecting it.

"They're clean." The head guard reported.

"Good. Now, get them out of here." The man in the suit ordered and I was handed back my jacket, before being escorted back towards the exit. Out in front of me Jack flicked the card down the line, and I snatched at it, catching it as I stopped behind Danny.

We were going to have to go through the metal detector again, and this time I was sure the card would be detected, a long with my arm again.

'My arm.' I thought. 'That's how I can get the card through.'

I pretended to bend down to scratch my leg, but I tucked the card back into the hem of my skirt as Merritt followed Jack through the machine. Danny went through, and as I followed behind the machine's alarms blared again. I held my arm up and waved it at the guards, and once again they came forward with the scanner, scanned my arm and then waved me through.

One of the things I'd learnt about perception is that often, people are concentrating so much on one thing that they don't see what's happening around them. So, while they were focusing on my arm, which had gone off before, they didn't consider that it could be another thing that had set the machine of too.

Mr Banott followed behind me, before turning back to the man in the suit.

"Thank you for this visit. Everyone here will be getting a pay rise."He said, saying just what Merritt wanted him to. "I shall enjoy my coffee." He finished and then marched away from the stunned man.

"Thanks for having us." Merritt grinned as we followed after Banott.

As soon as we were out of the building, we ran towards the first car and leapt in, leaving Banotton the curb as we roared away.

"I can't believe that worked." I laughed.

"Good job, nerd." Merritt replied from the front.

"So, what do we do with this now?" I asked, holding the card.

"Well, we need to get it to the Eye, but when we don't return to Pient he's going to come after us." Danny said.

"Should we make a duplicate?" I asked.

"Make it all the same but with a fake document."

"Is that possible?" Merritt asked.

"Yes. I just need time." I said.

"Great. Well while you do that, the rest of us will work out a way to expose Pient." Danny finished.


	20. Chapter 8 - The Eye

"Not long ago, we were tricked and exposed." I said into the camera.

"By someone who we think deserves the same treatment." Jack continued.

"So, we invite you, the world. To our newest show…" Danny said.

"Tonight, in Paris. Au revoir." Merritt finished.

"That should lure Pient out to us nicely." Danny said, checking the film, before posting it on the internet.

I walked over to the table where the fake file was downloading itself onto the fake USB in the fake card. As the download ended, I sealed the card and handed it over to Merritt to check it's similarity to the original.

"I've got to hand it to you. It's pretty good." He said.

"Good. I've also put a decryption on the original, so no one can get into it, unless they're in the right place." I said.

"Which is where?" Danny asked.

"The magic shop." I replied.

"Nice." Jack grinned.

"I'll take the decoy. You keep the original on you." Danny said and took the fake card from Merritt.

"So, we have a plan?" I asked.

"You bet." Jack replied and he began to explain the plan. How we'd get Pient and his men where we wanted them and how we'd expose them.

"It sounds good, but how are we going to set this up all on our own?" I asked.

"Do you really think you're all on your own?" I heard a familiar voice ask and we all turned around to see the elderly man from the magic shop standing in the doorway.

"You speak English." Danny said surprised and slightly irritated.

"You will always have help." The man continued, ignoring Danny. "You were all chosen for this moment, even if it meant sacrifices." He said and I realised that was what the Eye had meant when Jack told me that I was needed for something. I was needed for this moment. The Eye had been planning this all along. Everything that had happened so far had been planned, we just had to execute it without knowing.

"You said "chosen". Are you part of the Eye?" Merritt asked.

"Yes." The man replied and I glanced round at the others who all had looks of awe on their faces. "You've all doubted our existence. Wondering, if we were watching. We always were."

"You guys realise what he's saying right?" Danny asked us.

"We have resources and help." Jack grinned.

"Thank you." Danny said.

"It's my pleasure." The man replied.

"What do you need?" he asked and Danny began to explain the plan. As he explained I walked into an empty room of the small apartment and sifted through my bag until I found a pair of jeans, boots, a shirt and leather jacket. I changed out of my 'IT expert costume' and tucked the card up my sleeve.

I went back to join the others and found that Louis had gone.

"He went to sort out everything for tonight." Jack said, seeing me searching for him.

I stiffened suddenly as there was loud bang of a car door closing and shouting from outside. The four of us rushed to the window and looking down into the street we saw Alexander Pient looking angry and, if I didn't know better,scared, yelling at about twenty men.

"Go time." Danny said and we left the window. "Remember, split up, but don't go too far. We don't want to miss our show." He reminded us, as we went out to the stairwell.

"What about Chase? I didn't see him with Pient." I said.

"Let me take care of him." Merritt replied. "I think he could be of use to us."

"Good luck." I said to him and Danny, as they headed down, while Jack and I went up.

The first part of our plan was to lure Pient and his men after us, and then to the docks where an old, disused ship was sitting. It was derelict and roped off, so hopefully they would take us as it was out of the way and private. It was a risk, but Pient's men and resources would be scattered and being the business man he was, needed to retain order.

As Jack and I burst onto the rooftop terrace we heard shouts behind us and about six pairs of footsteps.

"Good luck." I said to Jack as we ran to opposite ends of the terrace, climbed over the railing and stood with our backs to the streets and buildings below as six men burst onto the terrace.

When they saw that we were 'trapped' they smirked and slowly made their way towards us. I slowly raised my hand, but grinned before I turned around and jumped as Jack did the same. I fell about two meters, before landing on next door's roof. I looked up at the apartment roof to see the men looking down at me, before they too began to climb over the railing.

I got up and ran along the roof, scanning the surrounding buildings for another target and once I'd found one, I jumped onto the next roof top.

And so I continued running and jumping, managing to outrun the men, while leading them towards the docks as the other three were no doubt doing as well.

Once I was in a few kilometers radius of the docks, I began to slow, letting the men catch up. I reached an outdoor stairwell and I started to make my way down it. I got about half way down when there was the sound of a gunshot and Iskidded to a halt as a bullet landed about a meter in front of me.

My falter gave the men enough time to catch up. 'Took them long enough.' I thought to myself. I looked up and saw the men hurrying down to my level. When they reached me, I held my arms up in surrender and two of them strode forwards and pulled out a set of handcuffs with a solid bar between the two wrist restraints and locked my hands behind my back. I watched as the third pulled out his phone and held it up to his ear.

"Sir, we have the girl." He said in French, no doubt to Pient.

"Okay…Yes, sir." He finished and put down the phone. "Chase has found an old ship at the docks, apparently no one's ever around. He's got the other three there." He said to the other two men, before he walked past me, down the stairs to the street below where a car was pulling up in the alleyway. It seemed that Merritt had gotten to Chase in time and was sitting in the palm of Merritt's hand.

I was pushed by one of the men to walk down the stairs and I did so obediently, before getting into the car, sitting between the men as we roared off towards the docks.


	21. Chapter 9 - Ships and Knives

It wasn't long before we pulled up, alongside a huge, grey warship, which must have been in the river for decades judging by it's condition. I was pulled out of the car and marched over to a rickety set of stairs, which lead up onto the ship's deck.

As we emerged onto the deck, there wasn't much to see as it was all shrouded in the darkness of night, except for a section of the deck, which was bathed in the yellow from a huge fog light at the bow of the ship.

In the light we Jack, Danny and Merritt kneeling on the metal deck with three big men, standing behind them. In front of the others was Pient, standing beside Chase, and flanked by four more men.

I was pushed down onto my knees next to Danny, who had a nasty looking black eye and looked up at Pient.

"Did you really think it would be that easy to get away from me?" he asked with a laugh. "I mean,I knew you took risks for a living, but I didn't know you were that stupid." He taunted. "I am a powerful man you see, I control the police, the casinos, the banks. There is no scenario here where I don't win…Now, give me the file." He ordered, but we all stayed quiet, either looking at the ground or staring defiantly at him.

"I don't want to get any blood on this beautiful ship, anymore than you want to spill it. So…the file."He said again, but this time his face darkened and he had a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"No." Danny said, which made it sound like he was the one with the file, whereas he had only the fake. I had the real tucked into the inside pocket of my jacket.

"Fine." Alexander replied and jerked his head at me. I was suddenly wrenched off the ground by my hair, pulled to my feet and had my head wrenched back as the cold metal of a large knife was pressed against my throat.

"Hey, hey, hey! No." Jack yelled and tried to leap up, but he was kicked back onto the ground."Danny, give him the card."

"…Okay… Here. Take it." Danny said and pulled out the fake card from his back pocket.

The man standing behind him took it and handed it toPient. I tried to look down to watch as he lookedat the card, but the man holding me only pulled my head back more.

"Thank you." Pient said. "Was that really so hard?" he asked with a manic grin and I waited to be let go of, but the man holding me, kept his grip firm.

"Ah, you see. Even though you gave me what I wanted, I still need to teach you that you don't ever double-cross me." he said and nodded to the man holding me.

Still holding me, he pushed me forwards, towards an old cargo container. This was not part of the plan and I started to panic.

"We gave you what you wanted." Merritt protested as Jack and Danny fought against their restraints.

"Yes, but you now need to be taught a lesson." Pient replied, flipping the card between his fingers, as Chase laughed happily and that was the last thing I saw before I was hauled behind the container.

I was thrown onto the ground at the base of the container, which hurt badly as my hands were still behind my back. When I looked back up at the man, I saw that he had been joined by two others, and as he strutted forward, spinning his knife between his fingers, I scrambled backwards, until I was up against the container.

"I'd hate to ruin that pretty face of yours." The man said, squatting down in front of me and I turned my face away as he pressed the tip of the knife into my cheek. "But, until you've learnt your lesson…" he said and sliced the knife just above my knee and I gasped as my leg stung and I felt warm blood begin soak into my jeans.

I tried to focus on the thought that at least they weren't searching for the card because they thought they already had it. "Have you learnt your lesson yet?" the man asked, his face merely centimeters from mine, and I nodded quickly. "Unfortunately, I don't think you have." He said and he pressed the tip of the knife against my cheek, and I couldn't help the cry that escaped my lips as I felt the knife pierce my skin and blood began to trickle down my face, yet he still let the knife sit there.

"There we go. See, know that we've learnt our lesson this is all over and you go back to your friends." He said kindly but tauntingly.

He stood up and the other two men pulled me to my feet and hauled me back to the others. I was thrown onto the ground beside Jack who tried to crawl over to me, but he was held back.

"Well, now that that's been taken care of. I would like to thank and congratulate you." Pient said, holding up the card.

"So, you got what you wanted. You letting us go now?" Danny asked.

"Ah, well, I would. Except you know to much and I can't risk you talking." He replied. "So, Chase would you please tell our guests where they're going now."

"My pleasure." Chase snickered. "As you know, it's the middle of winter, and the water around this lovely ship here, has frozen over completely, and I'm talking like two meters of thick ice." He said and walked over to the edge of the boat to look over the side.

"Man, and it's so dark that I can only see a metre in front of me, which means I doubt you'll be found for a while." He laughed.

So far this was playing out as we'd planned. Merritt's hypnosis seemed to be working on his twin and the fact that he could only see a meter in front of him was just what we'd wanted.

"Yes, that's right." Chase continued and turned back to us with an eager grin on his face. "You're going over board. Down to the ice, twenty meters below." He grinned. "Bye-bye."

Two men wrenched a fighting Merritt off the deck and walked him over to the railling.

"I love you guys!" Merritt yelled as he was pushed against the railing.

"No!" I cried as he was tipped over the edge and we heard his yells fading.

"Time to go girly." Chase said me, and again I was wrenched off the ground.

"No, let me go!" I yelled and struggled against the men. As they tried to lift me over the railing, I planted my feet against the top and pushed against the men, but the two of them were stronger than me and they tipped me over the edge and I fell.


	22. Chapter 10 - The Big Reveal

"No, let me go!" I yelled and struggled against the men. As they tried to lift me over the railing, I planted my feet against the top and pushed against the men, but the two of them were stronger than me and they tipped me over the edge and I fell.

I spun in the air so my back was facing the ground and a second later I landed on the soft crash mat that was being held two meters under the railing by the ship's loading doors. I scrambled off the mat, just in time to get out of the way as Danny landed right where I'd been, soon followed by Jack.

Jack worked quickly, and we were son free of our restraints.

"Ready for the big reveal?" Merritt asked us, once we were all together and we nodded eagerly.

"Uh, hey Mr Pient!" Merritt yelled up to the top of the ship.

From below we saw Alexander, Chase and their men lean over the railing and look down into the darkness.

"Oh, right. It's a bit dark. Let's shed some light on this situation." I called and lights all along the docks flashed on, bathing the huge crowds, waiting for us, in blinding light and they cheered.

Colourful lights came on underneath us and we waved up at the stunned group on the deck.

"Ladies and Gentlemen…The Horsemen!" We heard a voice announce over the docks speakers and the crowds screamed as we stood at the edge of our platform and waved to the hundreds of people below.

Our crazy plan had worked. We'd lured out Pient, Chase had somewhat willingly done his part and we exposed the baddy with a show, in the typical Horsemen style.

Towards the back of the crowds I could see a line of police cars waiting and watching for what would happen next.

"Wow. Thank you, Paris!" Danny called to the crowd.

"We should probably start off with an introduction." Jack began. "This is Alexander Pient, but I'm sure most of you know him as one of the most successful businessmen in Paris…oh, Europe, sorry. But something you don't know if that over the past few years he's had a few dodgy dealings in trafficking drugs in and out of Europe."

"But they're more than a few dodgy dealings from the past, aren't they, Jack?" I asked.

"Yes, you are right. He has been involved in over five-hundred shipments of illegal drugs in the last three years. Now he's told us that he was long gone with this business but we found that his last shipment came in, uh, yesterday." Jack finished and I looked up at Pient who had gone completely white as the crowd booed and yelled abuse at him.

"Why don't you tell the crowd?" I called up to Pient. "How you kidnapped us to steal the very thing that you have in your hand."

Alexander looked down at the card confused and I whistled up to him, flicking the real card out of my sleeve and waving it to him.

"Whoops!" Jack said. "What you have there my friend, is a fake."

"So, how'd we do it?" Danny said to the crowd.

"Well. While Mr Pient, so swiftly, found us after we posted our video, the four of us lead himfrom all over town to within a few kilometers radius of these docks." Jack began.

"And to make sure you brought us to this exact spot, my dear brother Chase helped us with that. Didn't you Chase?" Merritt called up to him and Chase nodded enthusiastically as Pient looked at him in disgust and annoyance. "It seems we now know who the smartest twin is." Merritt finished.

"So, how did we survive the perilous fall to the ice below?" I asked the crowd. "Well, we didn't. The fact that it was dark and you couldn't see the ice below meant that we only needed a platform a few meters below us to make you believe that we truly fell."

"So, the fact that you went through all this, so that no one would find out about your illegal dealings wasn't really worth it. Your secret was probably safer where it was before." Jack said.

"These men destroy people's lives, ruin families, force them into poverty and illness." Danny said. "So, in the Horsemen tradition, we're here to expose them." He finished and the lights from police helicopters, hovering above the ship, flashed on, illuminating police men filling onto the ship's deck.

There was a shout as Pient broke free, from the police, with some of his men and jumped over the edge of the boat, landing on the mat behind us.

They leapt up and looked for a way out, as I pulled off my rings and bracelet.

"Take these." I said, handing them to a confused Jack.

I then pulled out the rod from the magic shop, pressed the button on the end and threw it into the middle of the group of men. The metal sprung to life as soon as it touched one of the men and it wound itself around Pient, then the others, until they became a strange, tangled mess of arms, legs and metal on the ground.

"That's for the face." I said to Pient, before taking my jewelry back from Jack as the crowd cheered.

"Thank you, everybody!" Danny called out to the crowd. "We are the Horsemen and we will be back very soon!" he cried and fireworks shot into the air from the deck of the ship.

"Woohoo!" I cried as I hugged Danny and Merritt, and Jack leapt on top of us from behind.

As we all cheered and celebrated, I saw an FBI van arrive on the seen.

"Hey, we're on the clock guys." I said, and nodded towards the van.

"Let's go home." Merritt said and we climbed under the edge of the stage, and into the inside of the ship where a small boat was waiting.

"All aboard." A voice said from inside the cabin, and there stood Louis waiting for us.

"Thank you so much." I said to him as Jack pulled me into the boat.

"Me pleasure, my dear." He replied and started the boat. We slid along the rails and out of the ship, falling a meter to the water below, where we sped off down the river.

"So, you back for good?" Merritt asked me.

"Yes. Without a doubt." I grinned.

"Great, now we have to deal with you and Jack again." He said rolling his eyes, but we knew he was just being Merritt.

"You bet." I said and turned to Jack, leaning over and giving him a quick kiss. I looked back to Merritt who made a face and rolled his eyes before going with Danny into the cabin to talk to Louis.

I put my hands up to my face with happiness, but then had to wipe them on my jeans because I still had blood on my face.

"I forgot how fun this was." I said to Jack as I turned back to face the disappearing fireworks.

"Yeah, I guess some things never change." He replied and put an arm around my shoulders.

"Good." I said and wrapped my arm around his waist as we watched the fireworks.


	23. Chapter 11 - Epilogue (2)

"Well done. I'm proud of all of you." Louis said. The four of us were crowded around a computer screen in our new apartment back in New York.

We were talking with Louis via video chat, which, because of how old he was, we were surprised he knew how to use.

"The Eye has been watching and we are both pleased and impressed with your skills and ingenuity. But you needed to learn to work as one, and that is exactly what you did. I can promise you now, that you will finally be able to step into the light." Louis finished and smiled.

"Well, uh, thank you." Danny said. "But, we uh, do have a few questions."

""Few" meaning many." I added.

"I'm sure you do." Louis said. "Good luck to you all." He finished with a grin and went to turn off the screen.

"What! No!" Jack cried.

"That's not right." Danny said as the screen went black.

"How is it, that we found out so much, but are still left in the dark?" Merritt asked.

"That's magic for you." I replied.

"He said we're finally stepping into the light. What does that mean?" Jack asked.

"That's anyone's guess. But whatever the Eye has in store for us, it sounds like it'll be soon." Danny said and I couldn't wait.

 **A/N: So, that's the end of part 2 of my four part series! I hope you all enjoyed it, and thank you so much for following along and leaving your lovely comments.**

 **I haven't started writing the 3rd part yet, but I will post the first chapter in a week or so, but is there anything you guys would like to see in the next part? I would love to know what you guys want more of.**

 **Best of wishes and thank you again!**

 **Amy :) oxox**


	24. Now You Don't 3

**Now You Don't 3**

 **A/N: Coming in a few days! I promise! Sorry for such a delay. I was feeling very uninspired.**


	25. Chapter 1 - Our Help?

"Thank you, New York!" I called as I waved to the huge crowd packing the arena.

"We are the Four Horsemen! Good night!" Atlas yelled before the four of us ran off the stage and into the wings.

It had been five months since we'd been personally assured by the Eye that something big was going to go down, and at the center would be us. So, with every passing day, we grew more restless and impatient, but that only fueled our desire to improve. And week in, week out we practiced and performed, all the while managing to stay under the FBI's radar.

"Great crowd." Merritt said, loosening his tie before pulling on a thick coat.

"I'm just glad they didn't notice my slip up." I added.

"They were too busy appreciating your beauty." Jack said smoothly and I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, Romeo. I bit sentimental for my taste." Merritt chuckled, as I pulled on a black, dress coat.

"But we did well tonight. We know the Eye has something planned, and it can't hurt to impress them as much as we can." Danny reminded us, as we headed out the backstage door.

"And from the way Louis was speaking, it sounded big." I added, recalling our last conversation with the wizened, old man, who'd owned the Eye's magic shop in Paris.

"I wonder how big we're talking." Jack said. "Like, global scale, saving the world kind of big?"

"I doubt that." Danny said scornfully. But if he knew what was to come, he wouldn't think it was such a crazy suggestion.

"Has anyone else noticed the lack of FBI suits?" Merritt asked.

"It's strange. For the past few weeks, it's like they've given up." I said.

"Don't get to comfortable. Just because we can't see them, doesn't mean they're not there." Danny said, ever the control freak.

"I know." I replied, as I unlocked my car.

"See you back at the hotel." Jack said to the others as he climbed into the passengers seat. Merritt and Danny climbed into their own car as I started the engine.

"Just because we're wanted 'criminals' doesn't mean we can't travel in style." I said to Jack as I pushed the button beside the wheel and the roof of the car folded back into the boot.

I checked my mirror before roaring out, into the street.

"You know what we haven't done in a while?" Jack said, resting his arm on the back of the seat.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Had a night where it's just you and me." He answered, a little longingly. "Danny's had us rehearsing every night since the meeting with the Eye."

"I know. If we keep rehearsing like this we're gonna run out of fuel." I replied, turning left at a set of lights. "Man, this guy needs to back off." I said looking in my rear view mirror at a black four wheel drive, which if it got any close would be in my back seat.

Just as I said this a police car with it's lights flashing, sped past us.

"What's going on." Jack wondered out loud.

"Let's take the long route home." I said and swung the car round in a u-turn. I watched in the mirror as the four wheel drive turned too.

"Okay. You wanna play like that? Let's play." I said and shifted the car into a lower gear and pressed my foot further against the pedal.

Behind me the dark car sped up too and a pair of red and blue lights flashed on it's grill.

"Found the FBI." I said to Jack as he pulled out his phone to warn Danny and Merritt.

I looked back in the mirror as three more cars joined the original.

"Look out!" Jack yelled, and I looked ahead to see ten FBI cars creating a blockade in the middle of the road. I swore as I slammed my foot against the break, stopping with a few meters to spare.

In front of us, lights flashed in out faces and we were soon surrounded by a swarm of FBI agents.

"Both of you get out of the car with your hands in the air!" A man yelled and I turned off the car and climbed out. As soon as I stepped out, three men rushed forward and pushed me up against the side of the car.

"Taylor Court. Under the legal constitution of 1987 you are hear by under arrest by the FBI for felonies including theft and assault." Another man said, stepping out of the bright lights as a pair of handcuffs were locked around my wrists. He had short, greying, brown hair and a strict, but understanding face.

One the other side of the car, Jack had decided against going with the FBI on this occasion and had pushed away from the men, but was soon tackled by even more.

2 Hours Later

The sound of loud, muffled voices outside my interrogation room met my ears and I looked over to the one way glass. The chains around my wrists rattled as I sat back in the uncomfortable chair.

I, and the others I'd assumed, had been brought to the FBI's head office in the city, locked into the handcuffs on the table and then left alone for the past couple of hours.

"I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you say magicians?" I made out the skeptical voice of a man ask. However, it wasn't the voice of our usual friend Agent Cowan. This man sounded like he was the type of person you'd ache to prove wrong, to see his smug façade crack and to leave him completely speechless and at a loss to what had just happened in front of him.

It was at this point, the door opened and the same agent who'd arrested us walked in, followed by a tiresome looking man who, I assumed was the owner of the skeptical voice. He had short, brown, curly hair, a slight beard and looked to be in his mid forties.

"I'm Agent Rhodes." The man said. "Senior officer, deputy constable and sergeant detective."

"Taylor Court. MIT class of '09." I replied.

"This is Agent Fuller. And I really don't have time for this." Rhodes continued, ignoring my comment. He gestured to his partner, Agent Fuller, who looked like he had been dealing with this man for many years.

"And before we continue, let me just tell you. I'm not like Agent Cowan. I don't have the patience or the time to be worrying about kids doing magic tricks. So you had better not waste my time." Rhodes warned before looking down at his notes.

"Good. I hate wasting time. Besides, I can't stay long anyway…" I started.

"Stop talking." Rhodes interrupted.

"Yes, sir." I replied and smiled at Agent Fuller.

"There a two ways we can do this." Rhodes said.

"Let me guess. Is one of them the easy way?" I asked slightly patronizingly.

"No." He deadpanned. "It says here that you've been charged with theft, assault of government agents and failure to assent arrest." Rhodes read out.

"Probably not great on a resume." I said to Agent Fuller who gave a weak smile.

"And I don't know if I'd call them skills, but it says you're a hacker…" Rhodes ignored my remark.

"…such a crude term." I noted.

"…and a ... magician." Rhodes finished and stared at me.

"Am I meant to say something?" I asked as he continued to stare at me.

Finally, he nodded thoughtfully and looked back at his notes.

"You ever hacked a bank?" he asked.

"No." I answered.

"A government building?" he asked.

"Nope." I replied.

"How about a casino?" He said.

"Should I be offended?" I asked.

"Come with me." He decided and stood up as Agent Fuller undid my handcuffs.

I followed the two agents out of the room and down the corridor. At the end of the hall was a type of meeting room, with a long white table and office chairs on either side of it. Sitting at the table was Jack, Danny and Merritt, and as I sat down beside them, Rhodes locked the door and the pair sat opposite us.

"We have a proposition for you." Rhodes said.

"We need your help." Fuller added.


	26. Chapter 2 - Unwanted Help

"You need your help?" Danny asked.

"We have a proposition for you." Rhodes corrected.

"A group of hackers have been stealing money from people's accounts and replacing it with fakes so they don't suspect anything." Agent Fuller began. "So, far our efforts to stop them have been…less than fruitful."

"So, stop the hack, shut them down and you're records will be cleared." Rhodes finished.

I looked to Danny to see what he'd say, but he nodded at me to decide.

"Sure. Why not?" I said.

"Great." Rhodes nodded and handed me a computer before the agents left the room.

I opened it up and saw that they'd gained access to one of the victim's accounts. I flicked through their list of deposits, transactions and withdrawals. I then hacked into the accounts key-stroke file to see who else had accessed the account in the past few days. There was listed the name of the account owner, the FBI and someone named 'Z'. I clicked on the name, but as I did so, they screen froze, flicked with static and then went black.

When I tried to turn the computer back on, a fuzzy video appeared of a stage with three men, roughly in their late twenties standing on it, waving to a cheering crowd as what looked like money poured from the ceiling.

"What is that?" Danny asked as the other three crowded around behind me.

"I don't know." I replied as the video kicked into life.

"Please. It is merely a token of our appreciation." One of the men called as the crowd were covered in hundred dollar notes.

"And remember, there's more where that came from." Another said.

"If you return to our shows and forget the unreliable Horsemen whose popularity has gone to their heads. We promise to never forget those who supported us from the start." The third called.

"We are the Gemini's! Goodnight!" The first called again as the video froze and flickered before closing.

"What was all that about?" Jack asked.

"I don't know." I replied, shaking my head and trying to turn the computer back on. "It's dead." I concluded, closing the lid as the door opened and the two agents walked in.

"How's it going?" Rhodes asked.

"Not good." I replied. "Do you have anything more powerful?" I asked, gesturing to the computer.

I didn't miss Agent Fuller's nervous glance towards Rhodes before the senior agent spoke.

"Yeah." He replied a little reluctantly.

"But you three stay here." He pointed at Merritt, Danny and Jack.

I got up and followed Rhodes and Fuller through the identical corridors until we came to a room stacked to the ceiling with monitors and CCTV camera screens.

"So this is where Big Brother lives." I said.

"Over there." Rhodes said and pointed to an empty computer station.

"And any funny business I shut you out immediately."

"Yes, sir." I replied and stood at the huge screen. "Right." I muttered to myself and logged back into the victim's bank account. This time I managed to get a little further with 'Mr Z'. once I clicked on his name, a small red blip appeared in the middle of a map of New York, showing where the activity had come from. I barely had time to read the suburb before the screen went black and the sound of power shutting down filled the room. I looked around as all the flashing lights dimmed.

"The hell are you doing?" Rhode growled.

"I didn't do it." I said quickly, holding my hands up in surrender. "Well, I did, but it's not my fault." I added as the lights flashed back to normal and the sound of power returning to machines filled the room.

"Did you get anything?" Fuller asked.

"Uh, yeah." I answered. "I know the area where the hack came from."

It wasn't long before I was sitting back with the others in the big room.

"So, we're going to have to do it manually." I said.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Rhodes asked as I finished explaining what we needed to do. "Because it sounds like you're in over your head."

"Uh, no." I said, but I don't think my opinion had been heard.

"So, we've brought some help for you." He continued as the door opened behind him and last person I expected to see stepped in.

His familiar pearly white teeth, curly brown hair and similarity to his brother still unnerved me.

"Chase." Merritt said in pure shock.

"No." Jack said firmly.

"We are not working with him." I said, standing up.

"You will or the offer is off the table. Besides he's found a loop hole in our system. If he provides enough hours of community service he's free to go." Fuller said tiresomely as Chase pressed his hands together and bowed slightly to the agent.

"And we thought you were hard to deal with." Rhodes said to Merritt.

"And this counts as community service?" I said skeptically.

"I am a changed man. I am here to serve." Chase said angelically.

"Somehow I'm not convinced." Danny said.

"Whatever. I don't care if you're convinced or not." Rhodes interrupted.

"Get to work and bring us these hackers."

"Good to see ya bro-ski!" Chase grinned. "So what's this plan of ours?"

"This plan of ours." I started, gesturing to the four of us and not him. "Is to find the hackers and shut them down from the source."

"Ooh, fun!" He grinned, clapping his hands together. 'Oh boy.' I thought. 'This was not going to end well.'


	27. Chapter 3 - More Than What Meets The Eye

**11:46 pm**

 **Downers Lane**

 **Manhattan**

 **New York**

A black van was parked at the side of a small laneway, in shadow and out of sight. I sat in the back of the van with a laptop resting on my knees. This was the area the tiny red blip had come from before we'd lost the signal. I was scanning the area for any high powered tech being used and it wasn't long before I found the source of the hackers.

"I've got them. Two blocks from here." I said to Danny who was sitting opposite me.

"Great." He replied.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"This is a waste of our time." He answered. "What if the Eye needs us and

we're here doing favours for the FBI?"

"What about the Eye?" Came Chase's voice from the driver's seat.

"Let's just get this over and done with." I sighed and Danny handed me a black balaclava.

"Now I really feel like a criminal." I said, pulling it on. "I don't think my eye holes line up."

We climbed out the back of the van and walked through the narrow laneways until we reached the entrance to the hacker's apartment. I pushed open the front door and made our way up to their floor.

'Oh boy.' I thought as I pulled out a set out skeletonic keys. "As far as plans go, this is not a good one."

"Taylor. This was your plan." Danny said.

"I didn't think you'd actually say yes." I replied before unlocking the door.

The apartment was dark, but Danny pulled out a torch and flashed it around the room.

"There." He said, illuminating a computer with the beam of light.

I sat in front of the screen and unlocked it to find a powerful program running at about a hundred miles an hour.

"Woah." I said to myself as I flicked through the software. "This is going to take a while."

"You have ten minutes." Danny said, looking around the room.

"I thought you were gonna say five." I replied as I began changing passwords and locking access.

I went through their whole system, tying everything into a huge not with links leading to nowhere, and passwords shutting down the device. Once that was done, the money they'd stolen from people was sent back to it's rightful owners.

"Done." I said, shutting down the computer.

"Let's get out of here." Danny replied, already heading for the door.

The next afternoon, we returned to our apartment as free, law-abiding citizens. The FBI had been…pleasant but not generous with their gratitude for our help.

"That was such a waste of time." Danny huffed, as something was pushed under the door of the apartment.

I bent down to pick up a black card with silver writing on it. I opened the door to see who'd delivered it, but there was no one there.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"An invitation." I replied looking at it.

"What's it say?" Merritt asked.

"You are invited to the best magic show on earth." I read. "The State Stadium, New York. 7:30pm, Wednesday…The Geminis." I finished, reading the name.

"I don't get it." Jack said as I handed the card to Merritt.

"Why would they still do shows? If they can't get a bucket load of money out of it?" He wondered as I sat on the couch next to Jack, who pulled my

legs over his lap.

"And the FBI knows who they are. Why would they risk it?" I added.

"I think we should go." Danny said.

"Why?" I asked.

"To see some magic." He replied.


	28. Chapter 4 - It's A Trap!

"Thank you." I said to the security guard at the entrance of the stadium as he handed me back my purse.

Jack put his hand around my waist as we walked through the large doors. Merritt and Danny had seats on the opposite side of the stadium to us.

"You're tense." Jack said, with his hand on my back.

"I'm nervous." I replied. "I don't like being in the dark."

"I know." He replied. "It feels unnatural, not being in control." He added as we took our seats and the lights dimmed.

"As the Horsemen like to say, magic is about controlling perception. You see them as champions of the truth, but are they?" Jay asked the crowd.

"Or is that just another one of their illusions?" Liam added.

"So, since they clearly love secrets, lets reveal one of their." Scott decided.

"People see the Horsemen as noble Robin Hoods." Jay said. "Are they?" He added as the screen behind them faded on, showing one of our shows where we showered the crowd in money.

"Or are they common thieves?" Liam asked as the scene changed to a computer inside a familiar looking apartment. The door to the apartment open, and two people walked into view, with one making a bee-line for the computer.

"Oh my gosh." I breathed, as I realised what they were showing.

The scene changed again, showing bank accounts draining and shouts came up from the audience as their names flipped across the screen.

"We have to get out of here." I said to Jack and I looked across the Arena to see Merritt and Danny already pushing past the rows of people.

"What is it?" Jack asked as I got up.

The screen then focused of Danny and I looking over the computer and gasps went up from the crowd as they put two and two together, but came to the wrong conclusion.

"The Horsemen, are thieves!" Scott yelled.

"And they're right there!" he added as a bright spot light blinded me and I raised my hand to shade my face.

The arena erupted in 'boos' and jeers as Jack and I leapt down the last flight of stairs.

"They deserve none of our praise!" I heard Jay yelling as we headed for the exit.

"They are nothing but deceitful, talentless thieves!" They added as we met up with Danny and Merritt at the exit.

"Would someone mind explaining to me, what the hell just happened?" Merritt asked.

"Somehow, they knew we were going to be at their apartment." I said. "They filmed us and added footage to frame us."

"But why?" Jack asked.

"Jealousy?" I suggested. "In all their shows they're urging their audience to choose them over us."

"It's more than likely." Danny nodded.

"But how did they know?" I asked.

"How much of our plan did Chase hear?" Jack suggested.

 **A/N: Hi! Yes, I'm still here. I just wanted to apologise for being MIA with this story. I hate when people leave me hanging in stories and I promised myself when I started these that I wouldn't do the same, and yet, here we are. It's not a great excuse, but once I started writing this story, I went through a faze of writer's block and had trouble getting into any new story, so that's why I haven't been writing, because I don't want to write some boring story, just for the sake of keeping my chapters regular.**

 **But, I am going to post more regularly now (and I know I've said this before), but I promise that I'll stop disappointing and annoying you all, and to most much more regularly. Thank you so much for sticking with me, and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you every blessing for the New Year.**

 **Best wishes,**

 **Amy**


	29. Chapter 5 - Myths and Legends

"Who did you tell?" I demanded, glaring at Chase who was sitting at the dining table of the apartment in front of us.

"I didn't _tell_ anyone." He replied.

"Do you think you might of, oh, let it slip?" Danny demanded.

"Well, I did go out for a little drinky-poo the other night, and some parts are a little blurry." He replied casually.

"Great!" Jack fumed and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Chase. Please." Meritt sighed and Chase made a sarcastic apologetic face at him.

Danny clenched his fists as he walked over to the window and Meritt rubbed his head as he sat defeatedly down on the sofa.

I looked around at the defeated group, before also leaving the room in search of Jack, who I found sitting on the front steps of the apartment.

He was staring out into the dull street, which had not a tree in sight and a full skip at the end of the houses, which smelt bad no matter how empty it was.

I sat down beside Jack and put my hand on his knee.

"What are we gonna do?" He asked defeatedly.

"We'll think of something. We always do." I replied.

"How? How do we come back from this?" He laughed in disbelief. "These people outsmarted us with the one thing we know, magic."

I thought over what he'd said before an idea popped into my head. I thought back to all the times I'd seen the Geminis, and not once had they actually done any magic tricks. They'd used computers, hacking and special effects to do their 'tricks', there was no magic skill ever involved.

"That's it. Jack you're a genius." I cried and let up. "Come on." I called back to him as I run back inside the apartment.

"Guys. I've got it." I grinned as I burst through the door.

"Is it catching?" Meritt asked, and then knowing it was the wrong time, held up his hands. "Got what?" Meritt asked instead.

"How they Gemini's pulled this off and how we stop them." I replied.

"Okay." Danny said slowly, but gestured for me to go ahead.

"What if this was always their plan?" I said and the others looked skeptically at me. "What is they hacked those people to attract our attention in the first place? They new the FBI wouldn't be able to stop such a powerful hack, so they assumed they'd come to us." I explained.

"They designed the hack so it could only be stopped from their computer, meaning they could lure us into their trap. They record us messing around in people's bank accounts and turn it back on us, meaning they get praise for 'exposing' us and the spotlight, which they've always wanted." I finished.

"That may be so, but that doesn't help us get our lives back." Danny said.

"Yes it does." I replied, thinking it was obvious. "Look at all the information they've given us. They're jealous, which makes them careless, they're hackers, _not magicians_ and they've willingly given us access to their apartment by setting it up with security cameras." I explained. "We just have to use what we've been given to expose them."

"Yes, but they're jealous because they want people to watch their _magic_." Jack said.

"No, I know, but if you look at their profiles, they've got degrees in science, technology, and myths and legends in history." I replied, doing a simple internet search on their names. "These are all fields that are constantly having to debunk the idea of magic. They're putting on these shows to prove that magic is just a joke. They're making a mockery of it."

"Alright. What do you suggest?" Meritt asked, and I thought for a moment as a plan formed in my head. I explained it to the group and they nodded as it began to take shape.

"You know, I think that might just work." Jack said.

"But we're gonna need help." I finished.


	30. Chapter 6 - Back In Action

"I said you need to restart their hack." I said to Agent Rhodes as Meritt and I stood in the FBI headquarters.

"And why would anyone in their right mind do that?" He asked.

"Because we need to expose these Geminis for who they really are." I urged.

"Look, I don't have time for your squabbles with other magic people. That's your problem." Rhodes said, turning away.

"What if you got something in return?" I suggested and he paused to listen. "If you help us expose these criminals, you can lock them up and get all the praise from your superiors…and finally get a promotion." I added, glancing down at his ID card, which read 'Detective. From 2005 to present.'

"I don't bargain with criminals." He spat and walked towards his door.

"That's surprising, because wasn't it only a few days ago that you asked a bunch of criminals to work for you. Dissolving some sort of…hack, was it?" Meritt asked thoughtfully and I nodded, cottoning on to his plan.

"Imagine what the world would think if the FBI had suddenly started trusting 'criminals' with their bank accounts." I said, shaking my head in sadness. "I pray that day will never come." I added for extra drama.

"Are you blackmailing the FBI?" Rhodes asked dangerously.

"Uh…well…" Meritt thought and looked at me with a shrug.

"Yeah." We said together.

"Fine. But no one loses any more money and you deliver these crooks immediately." Rhodes said.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Meritt said and Rhodes gave him a great glare before leading us into their tech division where I wasted no time in breaking down the walls I'd put in to stop the Geminis.

It was much easier breaking down the walls you put in place yourself, instead of building them, which was good for us because it meant that we didn't have to break back into the Gemini's apartment and give the game away.

"It's done." I said, stepping back.

"Remember our agreement." Rhodes warned before Meritt and I left the headquarters.

"Remind me again, why we gave the Geminis back what they wanted." Meritt said.

"Because they'll be very proud about how they defeated the FBI with their clever little hack, making them careless and will ultimately become our proof that they're thieves." I replied as we walked up the stairwell of our apartment.

"Done." I added as we entered the apartment.

"Good." Danny said as he put down the phone.

"How's crowd control?" I asked.

"That was them." He replied. "We have our crowd."

"And we need a driver for the car." I added.

"Yeah, we think we have that sorted." Jack replied and looked over to the sofa where Chase was snoring loudly.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" I asked skeptically.

"Look he's the best chance we have. So, we're gonna have to." Jack replied.

For the rest of the day, we spent our time preparing to expose the Geminis for who they really were. The plan was to hold a performance and at the end, expose them to the crowd of people they'd exploited. We'd designed an exact replica of the interior of their apartment, even down to the dirty dishes in the sink, all thanks to their hackable security cameras that they'd carelessly left running.

The hardest part would be getting them into this fake apartment, but hopefully that would be where Chase would come in. But, it was up to me to get the Gemini's leader Scott into the building, otherwise the others wouldn't follow.

"But why do you have to do it?" Jack asked, sitting on the edge of the table while I swung back and forth in a wheely office chair.

"Because she's a girl." Danny replied for me.

"And unless you're very confident in your flirting skills…" I added.

"But how do you know it'll work?" Jack asked.

"Because you only have to go back through their Instagram to see they were frat boys and anyone with boobs can get a frat boy to do anything." I said.

"I was a frat boy." Jack replied.

"My point exactly." I smiled. "Anyway. Meritt, mentalism."

"Uh, yeah. So, being able to control someone means taking them by surprise. They can't be expecting it and it has to relate to their situation so that it makes sense to them." He said and so, for the rest of the night I had a crash course on mentalism. What skills I already had were less than impressive, but a week later the Horsemen were ready to take on the world once again.


	31. Chapter 7 - Frat

A week later, I sat in the back of a small café in New York. It hadn't been to hard to work out where I'd find Scott, the Gemini's leader. Every morning he came to this same shop to order a large, double shot Cappuccino, and cheese toastie.

I hadn't needed much in the way of disguises. A short, blonde wig was all I'd had and even I had to admit that it made a huge difference.

The small bell above the door rang and I looked up to see Scott walk in and push a pair of sunglasses on top of his head.

He sauntered over to the counter and leaned casually against it as he gave his order with a charming smile to the waitress. This was my chance. So, I stood up and while he was waiting, walked over to him and smiled.

"Uh, hi." I began, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "You're not Scott Mitchell, are you?" I asked.

"I am." He replied with a smile that showed he was happily getting used to being recognised.

"Um, wow. I-I'm a huge fan of the Geminis. You're amazing!" I said excitedly, and it reminded me of how I felt when I'd met Jack for the first time at the bar.

"Oh, well thank you." He grinned. "Thanks, Mandy." He added with a wink to the waitress as she handed him his coffee.

"And what's your name?" He asked me and I froze.

I'd stupidly forgotten to come up with a name, so I quickly looked around for something, as a bus with a large Star Wars poster on it drove past. "Uh, Carrie." I said quickly.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Carrie. Do you have a minute? I like to get to know my fans." He said heroically.

"Uh, wow. That's so nice of you. And yeah. I'm not busy." I replied, and followed him over to a table near the window and I considered trying the mentalism on him now, but I missed my chance.

"So, what do you like the most about our shows?" Scott asked.

"Well, I love how you guys are like Robin Hoods. You know, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor." I said, looking down and then back up at him with big eyes. "Good men are so hard to find these days and you're so noble."

"There _should_ be more men like that in the world…So, you're boyfriend is not like this?" He asked casually.

"Oh, I don't have a boyfriend. No." I laughed, embarrassed. "But if I did I'd want him to be just like you." I said, and I didn't have to make myself blush as the mere fact of saying something so fawning was embarrassing.

"I'm flattered. Truly." He smirked and then thought to himself for a moment. "Would you like to come over to my place and see how the magic's done?"

"Oh…uh, yeah." I smiled innocently.

"Great. I'll get my driver to come around the front." Scott replied and made a quick call.

Soon, a sleek black Mercedes pulled up in front of the café.

Scott opened the door for me, and I got into the fancy car.

"Home." He said casually to the driver.

"Yes, sir." The driver said from the front and I glanced into the rear view mirror, to see Chase's eyes looking back at me. He _had_ come through.

This could be my chance so, I looked back at Scott who smiled and I went for it.

"Scott, as you stare into my eye's you find that you want to sleep." I said, but instead of his head lolling forward, Scott just stared, confusedly at me.

"Aha. Sorry." I chuckled. "I've been trying to teach myself mentalism but it didn't really work, obviously."

"That's okay." He laughed. "We've all got to start somewhere…But now I'm curious. If it had worked, what would you have made me do?"

"Oh, uh…well." I laughed awkwardly, looking down at the car seat. "Nothing." I finished.

"Well, whatever nothing was, you don't have to hypnotise me." He said smoothly, and inconspicuously glanced down at my chest.

'Frat boy.' I thought to myself.

"Seems there's a bit of a crowd here for you, sir." Chase AKA 'The Driver' said from the front.

And just as we'd organised it to be so, a large crowd of people had formed across the front of the duplicate apartment, hiding the noticeable differences. It also meant that Scott would have to be rushed inside, so he'd take even less notice of where he was.

Once the car door opened, we hurried inside and Scott slammed the door to the apartment shut.

"Sorry about that. It's really a downside to this fame thing." He said humbly as he pressed the button on the lift.

"It's very modest of you." I said.

The lift ride up to his floor was silent and the only thing shared between us were glances and then smiles.

"This is me." He said and stepped out of the lift.

As he unlocked the key to his door, I knew I was running out of time to hypnotise him, but after my last failed attempt, I wasn't sure I could catch him by surprise enough for it to work.

An idea popped into my mind, but it was the last thing I wanted to do.

He let me into the apartment and shut the door behind him. I turned around to face him as he stood in front of me. This was my chance.

"I just wanted to say…" I began.

"I know." He finished and smiled before pressing his lips against mine.

'Okay.' I thought to myself. 'At least I didn't have to do it.'

Scott was obviously getting very comfortable with this fame thing as he took my face in his hands, making sure he became well acquainted with the inside of my mouth. He walked me backwards until I was pressed against the wall.

'That's quite enough.' I thought to myself and moved my hands onto his shoulders and pulled away slightly.

And as he stared down into my eyes I gave it everything I had. "Scott, as you stare into my eyes…you find you want to sleep." I said softly and watched as his eyes rolled back in bliss and his head dropped forwards.

"And when you wake, you'll demand Jay and Liam return here immediately, and you'll celebrate all the money you've just made." I finished and snapped my fingers.

Scott's head snapped back upright and stared at me. For a second I thought it hadn't worked, until he pulled out his phone and held it up to his ear.

"Jay. You and Liam need to get back here, right now." He demanded. "I don't care. Now. It's important…Good." He finished and hung up before making another call.

"Driver. Pick up the others and bring them right here." Scott said into the phone.

"Yes, sir." Came Chase's voice and the sound of a car pulling away reached my ears.

Scott then sat down, and stared at the door, waiting for his friends to return. I began making my way around the room, making sure all the cameras were recording, when there was a quick knock on the door.

I froze, not knowing what to do, before slowly making my way over to the door and looking through the key hole to see Jack's face looking warily down the corridor.

I let go of the breath I'd been holding in and opened the door, pulling Jack inside.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah…fine." I replied.

"I heard what happened." He said, referring to the ear piece I'd been wearing the whole time.

"Yeah, I thought I was going to have to do it." I said, fixing another camera.

"What?" He asked.

"Well, I was running out of time and options, so I thought that would be the only way to catch him by surprise." I replied, but Jack just scoffed.

"What? It didn't mean anything." I said but he didn't reply.

I heard a car door close on the street and the crowd began cheering again, no doubt as Jay and Liam came in.

"Come on." I said, and we quickly left the room, hiding down the corridor as the other Geminis rushed into the apartment.

"You shouldn't be jealous." I began.

"I'm not." Jack replied as we went back to the lift. We waited in silence and I pulled off the annoying wig. We stepped into the lift and as the door closed I looked over at Jack who was looking crestfallen.

"You are so jealous." I grinned and grabbed his jacket, pressing my lips against his. If he really was grumpy, his mood didn't last long as he wrapped his arms around my waist and I linked my arms around his neck. The lift jolted as it stopped and he reluctantly pulled away.

"I wasn't jealous." He said as the doors opened and I grinned as we stepped out.


	32. Chapter 8 - ShowTime

"They're in." Jack said to Meritt and Danny as we entered the empty stadium.

"Good. Good." Danny nodded and looked down at his watch. "Doors will be open soon. We should get ready."

The four of us left the stage and got ready for the show. I didn't know how many people would turn up, and I wouldn't blame them if no one did. We'd invited everyone who'd had money stolen from them by the Gemini's, but of course, they thought we'd done it, so why would they come to another of our shows.

However, as the Horsemen converged in the wings, the stadium was filled with chatter. So, either people were here to support us, or to throw rotten fruit.

"Ready?" Danny asked the group and he was met with nervous nods.

"Guys, once we're out there everything will be fine. Remember, this is where become the heroes again." I said encouragingly.

"Unfortunately I left my cape at home, so this will have to do." Meritt said, flipping his fedora onto his head. "It's ShowTime." He grinned and the lights dimmed on the stage as the crowd fell silent. We took our places on stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. The New York Stadium presents the Four Horsemen." A voice boomed throughout the stadium but the usual cheers were replaced by reserved applause.

"Daniel Atlas." The voice boomed and a bright spotlight lit up Danny from

the floor.

"Meritt McKinney, Jack Wilder." It continued, and the others were illuminated.

"And Taylor Court." The voice finished, and I looked into the dark

audience as light shot up from the floor underneath me.

"Good evening, everyone." Danny began, which received only silence. "Tonight, we will be talking about magic versus science."

"What is real and what is illusion." Jack continued.

"For example…" I began and walked over to a table which held a big glass of water and beside it, a jug of oil. "…If I mix this oil into water and then use my mind to bring it to the surface, we all should know that that's not magic. It's science. Oil doesn't mix with water, so it floats to the surface because it isn't as dense as water." I explained. "So, science."

"But what about this?" Danny asked the audience. He showed them his bare hands and that there was nothing up his sleeves, before placing his palms together, and from them, producing a huge bubble, which he sent floating out into the audience. "Is that science or magic? I think it's magic." Danny finished and the audience murmured in amazement.

For the rest of the show we wowed the audience with feats of magic and as time went on, they warmed up to us.

"Now, for our final trick we have something we've been working on for the last two weeks." Meritt began.

"Recently, you've all had money stolen from you." I began and the audience fell silent. It was so quiet, the only sound I could hear was my breathing.

"Yeah! From you!" An audience member yelled. 

"Well, yes, that does appear to be the case, however. Tell me if this is correct; the Geminis thwarted our plans and have returned all the money we stole to you." I said and the audience nodded with skeptically raised eyebrows, wondering where we were going with this.

"Well, I believe that if you all check your bank accounts now, you'll find that that money has once again disappeared." Jack said and there was a pause before everyone in the stadium began pulling out their phones to check their balances. While they did this, we walked to the back of the stage and pulled a large, black cloth off our fake apartment, which for the moment was whited out.

As audience members shouted about how their money had disappeared, we walked back to the front of the stage to calm the crowd.

"Please." Danny said and the audience fell silent. "We can explain everything that has happened in these last two weeks."

"Two weeks ago, a computer hack was snaking it's way through your bank accounts, and it was stopped by us." Jack said to the crowd.

"The hack was started by the Geminis who then heroically replaced your lost funds with fakes. That's why it looks like you've lost your money again, but really, you never had it in the first place." Meritt said.

"But as I'm sure you're all thinking. It's their word against our…But let's hear what they have to say now." I said, and pointed to the whited out box. "We can prove that the Geminis are behind these attacks. Through their carelessness and falsity we've caught them out on their lies." I finished and picked up a remote control, pressing a button that removed the white screen to show the Gemini's inside their fake apartment.

It was a one way screen, so we could see in, but they couldn't see out and at the moment, they were huddled around their computer screen.

The audience murmured loudly as they realised the Geminis were right there.

"Let's hear what they have to say." I added and un-muted the speakers.


	33. Chapter 9 - We're Back, Baby

The audience fell silent as they heard the Geminis talking.

"The hack's restarted? Why?" Jay asked.

"Who cares?" Scott grinned. "No one knows and we're getting more money."

"And it'll all be put back on the Horsemen." Liam laughed.

"The FBI are too stupid to be able to do anything, so they'll just put it in their, 'too hard to handle box'." Jay added, and I glanced back at the audience who were taking in all this new information as the Geminis practically dug their own grave. As the audience watched, I saw FBI agents slowly making their way towards the stage.

"The Geminis have fooled everyone. They may say that they are magicians, but they use science to produce their tricks. They are nothing more than hackers sitting behind a computer screen." Meritt said to the audience who looked around in shock and disbelief.

"Shall we shed some more light on them?" Jack asked and I removed the one way seal on the box. Suddenly, the Geminis looked up and stared out at the crowded stadium.

"What?" Jay mumbled in confusion.

"Hey there." Danny said waving up to them as they stood, and rushed back towards their door. However, the door just opened onto the stage and they bumbled in front of the audience.

"Move!" Scott yelled and pushed past the other two towards the stairs at the edge of the stage.

"I don't think so." Jack said and snapped his fingers. Three chains with clasps on each end, shot out from under the stage and locked themselves around one of each of the Geminis' ankles.

Each man looked down at their ankles and seeing they were trapped, eyed each other nervously.

"Now, now." Danny called, quieting the audience. "We will explain everything, but first I'd like you all to pull out the envelopes we gave you at the start of the show and write out your current bank balance." He said, and the audience curiously set to work, wondering what this had to do with anything.

"Okay, now. Carina Logan, can you tell me your balance." Meritt said and a young woman stood up towards the back of the stadium.

"Uh, $792." She read, surprised at such a private question but answering anyway.

"Oh dear. You in fact, are wrong." Meritt replied.

"What?" The woman muttered as she sat back down.

"And John Smyth?" Meritt asked.

"$3,876." He said eagerly.

"Well, it seems you too are wrong." Meritt replied. "In fact, all of you are wrong about what you think is inside your bank."

"Yes, now we will get back to that very soon, but first I think these fine gentlemen need an explanation as to how we caught them out." Danny

said, gesturing to the Geminis.

"Well, you see…" I began. "It started when we first stopped your hack. We didn't realise it at the time, but you started it to draw us out, and it worked, we went to your apartment to stop you, but didn't see the cameras which would eventually be your tool to framing us."

"However, you let the victory go to your head and you became careless." Jack continued. "You left the cameras running so we used them ourselves. We were able to hypnotize your leader into a fake apartment, made to look exactly like yours, thanks to the cameras." He continued and Jay and Liam looked angrily at Scott, who just looked confused.

"And once he called you two back, you didn't pay attention to your surroundings because you didn't want to anger him." Jack finished.

"So, how did we get them into the fake apartment without them noticing?" Meritt asked the crowd. "Well, with a simple distraction. We set up a crowd of 'fans' outside your apartment who blocked any noticeably different features, and all three of you were in such a rush to get in, you didn't notice."

"Then, all we did was restart the hack and you did the rest, celebrating your glorious victory." Danny finished.

"How did you hack our hacks?" Scott growled quietly at me, so the audience couldn't hear.

"You're not the hackers you think you are." I replied.

"Bitch." He spat.

"Bitch with Wi-Fi." I smirked.

"And here we are." I said to the crowd. "Oh, and back to your bank balances. Meritt if you would."

"Yes, right. Okay, everyone now take the torch out from under your seats." He instructed and there was a simultaneous rustle as everyone reached under their seats for their torches. "Now, turn them on." He continued and across the stadium, little lights blinked on, making it look like the night sky. "And flash them over your cards."

As the audience lit up their cards, around the stadium came shouts of amazement as the numbers on people's cards changed.

"Carina. Can you read out your current balance again?" Meritt asked her.

"Y-yes. $32,890." She replied. "What it was before it was stolen!"

"And John?" He asked.

"It's back to $19,877!" John cried and everyone in the stadium let out cries of joy and relief as their hard earned money was returned to them.

"All your money should now be returned." Danny said. "And we must thank the Gemini's for funding this return." He added with a grin as the FBI agents made their way onto the stage and took the Geminis away.

"That's all we have for you tonight, folks." Meritt said.

"We are the Four Horsemen." I shouted.

"Good night." We all cried to together and took a bow as the crowd cheered and waved.


	34. Chapter 10 - Forgive and Forget

Back in our apartment, grins were plastered on every face. We were back, and stronger than ever. We'd exposed the Geminis for who they really were and we were back on track.

"You know, after all this, I totally forgot that we're still waiting on the Eye to give us this big task we've been waiting for." Jack said and we all fell silent, realizing that this drama hadn't been for the Eye.

"So…now what?" I asked as there was a curt knock at the door. I went to open it and stepped back as Agent Rhodes came in.

"We've done everything you asked of us. We stopped the hack and delivered the Geminis to you. What do you want?" Jack asked.

"I came to let you know that Meritt, your brother has been pardoned." Rhodes said and stepped aside to let Chase through.

"I told you, Broksi. I'm a changed man." Chase said, nudging his brother in the arm.

"I'm glad." Meritt said.

"I'm leaving now. Starting a new life in London." Chase said honorably.

"I've realised I've messed up quite a bit in life and want a second chance, a fresh start." He added.

"Good on you." Meritt said and if I wasn't mistaken there was a touch of pride in his voice. He thought for a moment before holding out his hand.

"What do you say? We call if even." He suggested and Chase hesitated for a moment before shaking his brother's hand.

Chase turned to the rest of us and smiled before heading back out the door to start his new life. However, Agent Rhodes didn't follow.

"I also have a message for you." He said. "From the Eye."


	35. Chapter 11 - Epilogue (3)

"Wait, what?" Jack asked as Rhodes looked round at the group.

"You're part of the Eye?" Danny asked.

"Yes. And I know you've been waiting for something big, and well, I have it here." Rhodes replied and handed an envelope to Danny.

"The Eye will help you in every way it can." Rhodes said as Danny's eyes widened at what we had to do. "You'll have a lot of questions." He continued. "And I'll answer all of them."

"Wow." Meritt gasped as he read the letter.

"Shit." Jack added before he handed the letter to me.

It read:

 _Tax payer's money is being used to buy weapons. These weapons are being shipped to terrorist organisations around the world, funding them and helping them wreak havoc. In return the person responsible is gaining dangerous support and resources to become the most powerful man in the world._

 _Your task is to expose this crook for who he really is and stop the terrorist organisation from doing anymore damage._

 _Your target and the man responsible: **The President of The United States!**_

* * *

 _ **A/N: Well, that's the end of the 3rd part. Thank you for reading and sticking with me when I've been unreliable. GOOD NEWS: is that I've already finished the 4th and final part (which I've put a lot of work into), so I won't have to keep you waiting.**_

 _ **I'll post the beginning of Part 4 in the next day or two.**_

 _ **Thank you again for readying and I hope you're all having a wonderful day!**_

 _ **Amy xoxo**_


	36. Now You Don't 4

**Now You Don't 4**


	37. Chapter 1 - Mutiny

"You want us to tell the world that the President of the United States is funding international terrorist organisations?" I asked Dylan.

"You'll have help." He replied.

"I don't know." Jack said. "I mean, this is treason. Mutiny."

"You're not in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Jack." Danny said. "We'll do it." He added.

"We will?" Meritt asked.

"Why not?" Danny began.

"Well…" Meritt muttered.

"We have the Eye's help and we've done things like this before." Danny explained.

"Yeah, but not to the leader of the country." I pointed out.

"No, but he's just a normal man…with more security than we usually deal with, but being the President doesn't make him more than anyone else." He replied, and I had to admit that what he was saying did make sense. The thing that made this so scary was that it wasn't just some small criminal, it was a world leader who had a lot of support from the

rest of the world.

"Okay, we'll do it." I decided, and at Jack and Meritt's astounded looks I added. "Who would we be if we did nothing? We'd willingly stand by while war is being funded?"

"Well, what do we do?" Jack asked and everyone was silent, having gotten over their gung-ho attitude and realizing that they had absolutely

no idea about how to start.

"Well, if there's any evidence to be found it'll probably be on the President's private computer." I said.

"Which is where?" Danny asked.

"In the Oval Office." I chuckled nervously. "In which only he is allowed."

"There's no way we're getting in there." Jack said. "A fly couldn't pass

through undetected."

"Well then maybe we should go and see what we're up against." I suggested.

"What do you mean?" Meritt asked.

"In the holidays the White House puts on tours for the public. It's two weeks till Christmas, so they should be running. We go in, take a tour and check out what exactly we have to do to get into the Oval Office." I explained.

"Okay." Danny decided. "Dylan, can we count of the Eye for help here?"

"There's already a jet waiting for us at the airport." He replied.

* * *

 **A/N: Guys...10, 000+ readers! Thank you so much!**


	38. Chapter 2 - A Business Proposal?

The next day, I stood with Jack in a line to get to the front desk of the White House. We were undercover as a couple on their honeymoon, travelling from Interstate. We both had ear pieces in, so Danny, Meritt and Dylan could listen in from the plane.

"Next please." The woman at the desk called and we stepped forward.

"Hi, we're here for the one o'clock tour." Jack said.

"Wonderful. Can I get your names?" She asked.

"Mary and Joseph Gates." I said.

"Perfect." She smiled and double checked the booking on her computer. "Here are your visitor badges, and if you can walk through the gate to your left that would be wonderful. Enjoy." She finished.

"Thank you." Jack said, and we walked over to a tall, metal detector gate.

"Couldn't you have picked names than 'Mary and Joseph'?" Danny asked in my ear.

"What? It's Christmas." I replied as we reached the gate.

"Phones, jewellery and any metal objects in here please." A bored sounding security officer said, and we both places our phones and other objects into the plastic tray.

"Please step through." The man said, and I walked through, expecting my arm to go off like it had that time in Paris, but it didn't, which meant this

machine wasn't as strong.

"Thank you." I said to the guard as Jack and I made our way towards the café, having arrived with plenty of time to spare before the tour.

In front of the café was a stand filled with brochures containing facts and information about the White House, so we grabbed one of each and then spread them out onto one of the café tables.

"The metal in my arm didn't go off when we passed through the machine. So, that means we'll be able to get anything through there that's made of the same material." I said to the others back on the plane.

"Which is what?" Dylan asked.

"Titanium." I replied.

"Alright, I'll do a bit of research with the Eye about what they can get made out of Titanium at short notice." He said.

Jack and I opened out all the brochures and looked through them for anything that could help us. Most of it was about the history of the building, but it did mention a few things about the security changes that were put in place when the White House was refurbished.

"Security cameras in every hall, 24 hour personal security, and multiple ID checkpoints." I noted out loud.

"We need more." Danny said.

"I know. That's what the tour is for." I replied, before turning to Jack who was looking around uneasily.

"You alright?" I asked, looking at one of the brochures. 

"This feels kind of weird." He said.

"What does?" I asked.

"Pretending to be on our honeymoon." He replied.

"Why "weird"?" I asked.

"I don't know…Maybe cause we could actually be on a honeymoon one day, but we're pretending now." He replied. "I don't know." He shrugged.

"You're thinking about what the future holds for us?" I said.

"…Yeah. Have you thought about it?" He asked and I turned off my earpiece before replying.

"Yes." I said.

"And you'd be interested in a future with me?" He asked nervously.

"You're making it sound like a business deal." I grinned. "But I would be open to a proposal of some kind."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Oh, cool." He grinned.

"All those for the one o'clock tour, please make your way to the atrium." A woman's voice said over the speaker.

"Here we go." I said and turned my earpiece back on as we headed out of the café.


	39. Chapter 3 - ID

The tour was good, but neither of us paid much attention to the history or fun facts the tour guide had to tell us. As we walked through the many, heavily furnished corridors and hall ways, I took note of the vast number of security cameras, following our every move.

There was one camera at each end of every hall, and each did a sweep up and down, taking it in turns so there was only a very narrow gap where the whole hall wasn't covered. But, if you knew what you were doing and timed it right, you might just make it.

"And this, ladies and gentlemen is the Oval Office." The tour guide said as we reached a gold adorned room with a single, velvet rope blocking off the doorway.

"The only person allowed in here is the President himself." The tour guide said.

"Really? No one else is allowed in at all?" Jack asked.

"Well, except for the cleaners of course." She smiled before gesturing to a panel near the door. "The only way people can get in is by this, hand print recognition scanner. Only the President and…cleaners…" She added with a wink to Jack and I raised my eyebrows at her. "…have their ID's loaded."

As the tour group moved on, Jack and I hung back.

"Did you hear that?" I asked into my ear piece.

"What? The tour guide making a pass at your fiancé?" Meritt asked.

"No. About the hand print scanner." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh yeah, we heard that too." He replied.

"Any ideas, Dylan?" Jack asked.

"Let me see what I can do." He answered.

"Well, whatever we do, it'll have to be for the President himself, because we don't know the identity of the cleaners." I said.

With plans forming in our minds, Jack and I finished the tour and made our way back to the plane where the others were waiting.

"We've got a plan." Meritt said as we sat down together.

"Great." I replied.

"The President's 47th birthday is in three days and there's going to be a show in his honor, with lots of different people and acts performing for him." Dylan began. "I've booked Danny and you in…" he said to me. "…to do a show, and then after, all the performers get to meet the President."

"And of course, that means shaking his hand." Danny continued. "Dylan said he can get a glove that'll imprint anyone's hand print it touches into the palm. So, once we have the President's print, we can get into the Oval Office."

"But when we get there, there's no way we can hack his computer, so we need to know his password." I said.

"I've got an idea for that." Dylan said. "There's a type of solution that you can mix that's invisible, but once you shine an ultraviolet light on it, it glows green. A bit like those invisible ink pens you used to buy as a kid."

"But how does that get us the password?" I asked.

"Well, if the President gets this on his fingers and then types in the password to his computer, we can see the letters he used." Dylan explained.

"Only, how do we get this onto his fingers?" Jack asked.

"Simple. Send him a present with whatever's inside, coated in this solution." He replied.

"That actually should work." Danny said.

"What do we send?" Jack asked.

"Our President's a big history buff. Especially on the Civil War, so I'm sure I can rustle up a fake medal or something from back then." Dylan replied.

"Great!" Danny said, clapping his hands together. "Then let's get to it."


	40. Chapter 4 - Mr President

Danny and I had a simple show planned for the President's birthday. It was mainly just little tricks designed to wow and amaze, and ones that people would recognise from our previous shows.

Dylan had come through with the hand print glove. It was a simple, black wrist length glove that looked completely normal. I was wearing it, with another plain one on the other hand.

"Our next performers are Daniel Atlas and Taylor Court from the Four Horsemen." A man's voice said over the speakers, and as the previous act left the stage, we ran on to applause.

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen. And a very happy birthday to you, Mr President." Danny said to the crowd. "Now I want you all to look closely at our first trick, because as usual, it's more than what meets the eye."

As he spoke, he picked up two, large sticks and dipped them into a bucket of normal bubble mixture. He waved the two sticks into a circle and created a large bubble, which went floating, out over the crowd.

"Now, these are just normal bubbles. You can pop them with your hand." Danny said, creating two more as a member of the crowd broke one with their finger. "But, can normal bubbles do this?" He asked, and as he created one, I ran forward and the bubble closed around me.

Instead of breaking, I went with the bubble, floating out over the crowd as they looked up in awe. I flipped upside down and as the bubble descended I looked down to one of the members of the crowd.

"I could do with a push." I said, and the man reached up and gently pushed the bubble back towards the stage. Danny held out his hand and I took it, stepping out of the bubble and back onto the stage as the crowd applauded.

"Now, there should be two pencils out there in the crowd. If you got given them when you came in, please hold them up." I said as two shouts came up from the crowd and two pencils were waved in the air.

"Excellent." I smiled and pulled out a pack of playing cards. "Now, I'd like you to hold your pencils very still for me. And Mr President, if I could get you to pick a card for us." I added, and watched as he grinned round at the waiting crowd.

"King of Spades." He called out.

"Perfect." I said and threw the pack in the air, snatching at one with my hand. "Is this it?" I asked, showing it to the crowd and they all nodded.

"Okay, remember, hold those pencils nice and still." I called and turned my back to the crowd. I held the card between my fingers and spun around, throwing the card towards the first pencil.

It flew through the air and snapped the pencil in half, before soaring around in a crescent and breaking clean through the second, flying back to the stage where I caught it out of the air.

"Thank you." I said to the cheering crowd with a little bow.

"Now, we just have time for one more trick, but first I want to thank everyone and wish the President a very happy birthday." Danny finished and the crowd cheered as yellow, smoke erupted from the front of the stage, and as we were enveloped, the back of the stage lowered to show a set of stairs.

We made our way down and by the time the smoke had cleared, we were gone.

Danny and I watched the rest of the performances from backstage and once they were all done, we mingled with the crowd, talking to fans and enjoying the party.

"Sorry, could I just…thank you." Danny said, pulling me away from a middle aged couple.

"The President's here." He said and lead me over to where the President was standing, talking with his secretary and flanked by two hefty body guards.

"Here they are." The President grinned at us.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Danny said, shaking his hand.

"Please, the pleasure's all mine." He replied as I extended my hand. "I'm a big fan of your work." He added, shaking my hand.

"Well, we were honored to receive the invitation." I said.

"It's funny you know, I don't remember seeing your names on the list." He said with a smile.

"Really? Oh, perhaps whoever your 'list-maker' is decided to surprise you." I smiled back.

"Maybe." He grinned purposefully. "Just like magic."

"Indeed, sir." I smiled.

"We shouldn't keep you." Danny said. "Have a wonderful night, Mr President and Happy Birthday."

"Thank you." He nodded, before we turned away and disappeared into the crowd as Danny pulled out his phone.

"Dylan, hi. We got it." He said.


	41. Chapter 5 - Not Breaking, Still Entering

"Okay. Do you need me to go over it one more time?" I asked Danny as the five of us stood in the plane.

"No. I got it." He replied.

"Okay, but still. You have a camera in your name badge and these…" I said, holding up a bag of nano cameras that were no bigger than the tip of a needle. "…Stick one on each corner you pass so we can see if anyone's coming, and don't worry about people seeing them, they dissolve themselves within thirty minutes of activation."

"And you're definitely sure, everything's titanium?" I asked Dylan and he nodded. "The hard drive is designed to be undetectable and untraceable, so it should go through the metal detected fine."

"You know I said I didn't need to hear it again." Danny said.

"Just go." I replied, irritated, and pushed him out the door of the plane. "And don't draw attention to yourself." I called after him.

"Feel better now, Mum?" Jack asked, rubbing my shoulder.

"No." I replied, before weaving through the plane seats and taking my spot in front of the laptop on the table.

It wasn't until fourty-five, nerve-wracking minutes later that Danny switched on his camera as he arrived outside the White House. We watched on the screen as he walked towards the metal detector where he was stopped by the guard.

"Maintance work?" The guard asked. "Gear in the box, please."

Danny placed his tool belt in the plastic tray and I crossed my fingers as both he and the box, moved through without issue.

"Okay, up the stairs and down the left corridor." I said into the microphone that sent the message into his earpiece. "And don't forget…" I began.

"I know." Danny interrupted, and placed a nano camera on the corner of the corridor.

He made his was through the White House and into the part when only personal staff are allowed.

"Okay. You're clear for first change." I said, and Danny checked over his shoulder before pulling at the belt on his maintenance overalls. The whole thing tore off to reveal a smart suit underneath. He tossed the discarded overalls into a rubbish bin and tapped each heal with the toe of his shoe and they changed from workers boots, into shiny, black dress shoes.

He went along, adding nano cameras to each corner he passed and each time, I added a new live stream to the computer screen, until we had a view of every corridor he needed to get through.

"Okay, stop there." I said into the ear piece as he reached the corner of the corridors with timed security cameras.

I watched on the screen as the first camera moved along the corridor, where it was met with the second.

"Okay, go now." I said and he quickly moved along the corridor. "Stop." I ordered as he reached the middle. "The door to the side is open, duck in there and wait."

He ducked into the room, and waited as the second security camera passed him. "Go." I added, anxiously. And he hurried down the corridor. "Okay, wait…Go." I said again as he turned around the second corner and headed down it. "The cleaner's closet is on the right." I added, and he turned into it, closing the door and disappearing for a few seconds.

When he emerged again, he was wearing a cleaner's outfit as he casually closed the door behind him and sauntered down the corridor. It didn't matter if the cameras saw him as only cleaner's were meant to be there at this time.

He continued down three more hallways before arriving outside the locked door of the Oval Office. He slowly reached inside his pocket as the camera watched him, but once it turned away, he whipped out the glove with the President's hand print on it and pressed it against the ID pad.

Everyone in the plane held their breath as we watched four little, orange lights blink on, one at a time on the pad before turning red.

"It's not working." Danny said, shaking his head and glancing over his shoulder as the camera began it's sweep back.

"Try again. But press harder in case in needs a stronger connection." I suggested as he pressed his hand firmly against the pad. We watched with baited breath as the little, orange lights blinked on once more before turning green and the 'click' of a lock opening was heard.

"Yes." Jack breathed beside me as Danny quickly pushed the door open and closed it with a gentle 'click'.


	42. Chapter 6 - Gettysburg

The four of us left in the plane, watched on the computer screen as Danny looked around the gold and cream coloured, ornate room. In the center were two sofas, facing each other, piled high with cushions and at the far end of the oval shaped room was a wooden desk and office chair, flanked by two American flags.

'Americans are never subtle.'' I thought to myself. "Well, we're in the right place." I said as Danny walked over to the desk.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Okay, take out the torch and shine it over the keyboard." I replied, and pleading that the President had received our gift waited for the keys to light up.

Thankfully, as soon as the ultraviolet light was shone on the keyboard, a selection of keys had illuminated, green fingerprints on them.

"We've got E, R, T, Y, U, S, G, B." Dylan read out as Jack jotted them down, before plugging them into a second computer that had a program similar to an anagram generator and he started reading out suggestions.

"Okay, uh, Buyers, Rugby, Busty, Gutsy, Ruby…" He read, but none of them made any sense. And the others knew it too, giving each other skeptical looks.

"Bury, Busy, Grey, Guys, Tyres…" He continued as I thought the letters over in my head, thinking that it must be something specific. And then I had it.

"Buster, Grubs…" Jack continued.

"It's Gettysburg." I interrupted.

"Gettysburg? I don't have that the on list." Jack replied.

"It's Gettysburg. He pressed G and T twice. It's the turning point in the Civil War." I said and looked around at the others who either had looks of surprise or admiration on their faces. "What? Did no one do history in high school?"

"It's Gettysburg. Put it in." I said to Danny and after a slight hesitation, he plugged in the password and after a few tense seconds, the President's home page appeared.

"Can I marry your brain?" Meritt asked.

"Okay, Danny. I have no idea what we're looking for so you need to do a bit of browsing, and anything that looks interesting, put it onto the hard drive I gave you." I said.

For the next few minutes, we watched as Danny searched through the President's files, but nothing related to weapons or transactions appeared.

"What's this?" We heard Danny mutter and we looked closely at one of the files, which had 'RESTRICTED' printed across the front.

"Open it." Dylan suggested, and ignoring the warning, Danny opened the file.

"Woah." Jack breathed, as hundred of transaction records listed across the screen, showing a huge range of weapons being delivered to countries across the globe.

"That's what we're looking for." I said. "Take it all."

"There's something else." Danny replied, and opened another file. "It's a location for a warehouse."

"Where the weapons and takings are stored." Dylan finished.

"Danny, there's someone coming." I warned as I saw someone in a similar cleaner's outfit, coming down the first hall. "Take all of it, and get out of there right now." I ordered, and he downloaded the information on to the hard drive, removed it and hurried through the door of the Oval Office.

"Don't rush." I said as he powered down the hall. "Remember, you're meant to be there." I added and he slowed down as he reached the corner. He turned into the same hallway as the other cleaner.

"Evening." The man said casually as they passed each other.

"Alright, you're clear." Dylan said. "Now, get back here, so we can work out what to do next."


	43. Chapter 7 - Bigger Than Us

"We have to get into that warehouse." Danny said.

"What?" Meritt gaped.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"We need a fall back." Danny said. " _If_ …something goes wrong, then there's no one to stop the President from sending out the entire contents of that warehouse."

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" I asked.

"We make a duplicate of the warehouse's contents and deliver the real stuff to the FBI." He said and looked at Dylan. "We're going to need help."

"Let me make a few calls. I still have some standing with the FBI, so hopefully they'll be able to help." Dylan said, and stepped away to make a phone call.

"So, what do you propose we make this duplicate out of." I asked Danny.

"I was thinking we use the same idea as a jumping castle." He began, the words tumbling out of his mouth. "We have something small and easily portable, but it can open up to become something solid. So, we'll need it to be made our of some sort of strong material…wood, or…"

"Can I make a suggestion?" I interrupted. Danny was looking into this far too much.

"Uh, sure." He replied, not used to being interrupted.

"On one of the files you took, it said that the warehouse is only physically checked once a week and the rest of the time it's monitored by security cameras." I said. "So, why don't we put the cameras on a loop so they're constantly showing one minute on repeat. We'll set them to show a full warehouse, when really, it'll be empty."

"Okay, yeah, that's a better idea." He said quickly after thinking for a moment.

As Danny sat down, Dylan came back in, shoving his phone back in his pocket and shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, guys." He said. "The FBI aren't going to do anything. They get calls like that everyday. Why should this one be any different?" He shrugged.

"Because it's from another FBI member." I said.

"Not anymore, I'm not." He replied. "They had their suspicions that I had a different agenda, and that phone call just proved it."

"We'll have to worry about that later." Danny said. "Right now we have a plan and we're running out of time."

As Danny explained the plan to Dylan, I set to work decrypting the security features on the warehouse's cameras.

Being an average, run of the mill warehouse meant that the cameras were pretty low quality, so it didn't take long to access their feed.

I recorded about a minute's worth of footage, before setting it as the camera's display. I then did the same thing for the other three, before checking that each were displaying a full warehouse and that the time display still continued to tick by.

"All right, the cameras are set." I said.

"Good. Then let's get going." Danny said and we headed off to the warehouse.

* * *

Jack, Danny and I were sitting in the back of an empty truck while Meritt drove towards the warehouse. The idea was to fill the truck with the warehouse's contents and then deliver it to the FBI, without them knowing.

We felt the truck pull to a stop and heard voices as Meritt spoke to the guard on the gate.

"Got a delivery here." Meritt said casually.

"Head on through." The guard replied, sounding bored.

"I don't think the President would be too happy if he knew how poorly his transactions were protected." I said as the truck backed into the warehouse.

There was the sound of a door closing and then a tap came on the back of the truck. That was the all clear signal, so we pulled up the roller door and jumped down to the ground.

"Let's get to it." Jack said, and after checking the camera feeds, I followed the group further into the warehouse and began moving crates into the back of the truck.

It took a few hours, but finally everything was stored safely in the back and the warehouse was empty.

"Alright, let's get out of here." Meritt said, getting back into the truck with Danny while Jack and I unhooked the bikes, we'd 'borrowed', from the underside of the truck, so we could give the truck a 'police escort'.

"One of these days I will make you get your bike license." Jack said to me, pulling on his helmet.

"One day." I replied with a grin and snapped down the dark visor.

I flicked on the emergency lights before skidding out of the warehouse with Jack beside me and the truck coming behind us.

No one stopped us on the way to the FBI and once we arrived we headed straight through to delivery section. Danny and Meritt parked the truck before climbing on the back of the motorbikes.

I was surprised at how easy it was to access the FBI's delivery section, but I supposed with a police escort you could do anything.

We drove out of the FBI's headquarters and headed back to our apartment, but it turns out not as secretly as we'd hoped.


	44. Chapter 8 - Dear Mr President

_Dear Mr President,_

 _You and your cabinet are cordially invited to attend the newest show by the Four Horsemen on Christmas Eve at 7:00pm at the Washington Performance Arena._

 _Your tickets are paid for and a reserved box to the front of the Arena will be available to you._

 _We hope to see you there._

 _Yours Sincerely,_

 _The Four Horsemen_

"Does that sound okay?" I asked the others as we sat in the plane, waiting to take off.

"It's perfect. Send it." Danny replied and I sent the E-Invitation straight to the President's personal email.

It was time for us to put on our show that would expose the President for the crook he was.

"Guys, you need to see this." Jack said, hurrying over and switching on the small T.V. to show a news report.

"Good evening." The reporter began. "Once again, the FBI has issued warrants for the members of the Four Horsemen, including ex-FBI agent Dylan Rhodes. The FBI has released footage of Horsemen members Daniel Atlas and Meritt McKinney driving a truck into a secure section of the FBI's headquarters." He said and a blurry image appeared on the screen, showing Danny and Meritt in the front of the truck.

"Meanwhile, ex-FBI agent Dylan Rhodes appears never to have been an agent in the first place. Information has been released, stating that he has been imposing as an agent for the past twelve years, while also being affiliated with the Four Horsemen."

"If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of these people, the FBI has asked that you report to local authorities immediately." The reported finished and Jack turned off the T.V.

"I'm not worried." I said. "It's so late in the piece that once we expose the President they won't be after us anymore. As long as they haven't found the truck, then everything is still going according to plan."

"That's true." Jack nodded.

"And in that case, we can't waste any time getting to DC." Danny added as right on cue, the seatbelt sign flicked on at the front of the plane, and we took our seats as the jet taxied down towards the runway.


	45. Chapter 9 - The Return Of Agent Cowan

We landed in Washington D.C. at five in the evening, giving us two and a half hours to put the finishing touches to our show.

We had a hotel room near the arena and were using it to rehearse and get ready. I'd left the others to get changed into my costume, which consisted of a black, shiny a-line dress with three-quarter length sleeves and black boots.

I was looking out of the window, down into the blinking city below when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." I called, and looked over my shoulder to see Jack open the door.

"Hey." He smiled. "You ready?"

"Yeah." I replied after a sigh.

"What's wrong?" He asked, closing the door behind him.

"Just hoping this all goes off well…and wondering what we do when it's over." I replied.

He thought for a moment before walking over and taking my hands.

"I have no idea what we do next, but what I do know is that we'll do it together." He said.

"That's very deep of you." I replied fondly.

"I have my moments." He grinned, before pulling me into a kiss.

As we pulled away there was a knock on the door and Danny poked his head in. "It's time." He said.

The Four Horsemen and Dylan, headed out of the hotel to a waiting car and pulled away, heading for the arena. The car wound it's way between traffic and everyone was silent as they thought over their roles for the show. However, the peacefulness was soon broken when red and blue lights began to flash all around us.

"Oh no." Jack groaned as we were surrounded by police cars, forcing our own car to a halt.

"Horsemen! Get out of the car with your hands in the air!" A familiar voice called and Agent Cowan stepped into view.

"What do we do?" Meritt asked.

"What we practiced." I replied, and the five of us stepped out of the car. It would have been foolish to underestimate the FBI, especially at this crucial time, so we'd come up with a plan, just in case things went south.

I held up my hands as an agent came forward and clapped a pair of handcuffs around my wrists. As the same was done to the others, I nodded to them. Around our palms, we'd each worn a band that had a magnetic activator button on them.

As soon as I clicked it, it zapped the handcuffs open, and in one swift movement, I whirled around to face the agent behind me and locked the handcuffs around the his wrists.

Amid the confusion, the five of us sprinted away from the FBI cars and ran towards the maze of yellow taxis, lining the street.

I ran over to a taxi on the other side of the street, while the others dived into their own.

"Washington Performance Arena, please." I said to the driver.

"No worries, love." She replied, and pulled away from the curb. I looked out the back window as we joined the myriad of other yellow taxis in the wide street. Agent Cowan was staring into the sea of yellow as his agents tried to rid themselves of the handcuffs.

There was no way he could know which taxi each of us were in. We'd gotten rid of the FBI. At least for now.

It wasn't long before my taxi reached the arena.

"Thank you very much." I said to the taxi driver as I got out and headed into the arena where Jack and Meritt were waiting.

"Where are the others?" I asked as Meritt pointed over my shoulder.

"Here." Danny said as he and Dylan walked through the entrance.

"All right. That should keep them off our tails for a while." Meritt said.

"Let's get this show on the road." Jack added.


	46. Chapter 10 - War and Love

The arena was full as I walked back to the others to report on the appearance of the President.

"He's here…With his whole cabinet, and the Vice President." I added.

"Excellent." Danny grinned as the lights dimmed and the crowd was silent.

"Let's do this." I said, and we all dispersed to take our places.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. On this special Christmas Eve performance, the Washington Performance Arena, in partnership with Holden Motoring are proud to introduce, the Four Horsemen." A loud voice boomed and strobe lights began to flash as the crowd roared.

"With Daniel Atlas…" The voice announced, and Danny appeared on stage to loud cheers. "Meritt McKinney…"

Merrit appeared on the other side of the stage. "Jack Wilder…" The voice echoed and Jack was lit up at the front of the stage. "And Taylor Court." The announcement finished, and I was lit up, standing in the President's box.

"Thank you very much, everyone." Danny grinned from the stage. "Thank you for coming out to support us and a big welcome to you, Mr President." He added, and beside me the President nodded in thanks.

"And we'd also like to extend our warmest welcome to all the members of the FBI who have joined us here tonight." Jack added and I looked down into the audience to see FBI agents standing by all of the exits.

"Now, tonight we will be looking at what is real and what is not. Are things as they seem, or are they just an illusion?" I asked, stepping up, onto the railing of the box as the audience gasped below. I stepped out into the thin air, and the crowd cried out but I stayed there, standing in space.

"You see? Is this real, or is it an illusion?" I asked, stepping through the air as if walking down a flight of steps. Once I was half way to the stage, the television screens that were mounted to a set of wooden steps switched off and became blank, clearly showing the structure I was standing on.

"With the use of these screens to display a looped feed of it's surroundings, the steps become invisible." I explained. "So, there we have an illusion." I explained as the audience laughed and clapped.

"Now, before we go any further. I want you all to pay attention to all our tricks tonight because you'll need them for our finale." Meritt said.

"Now for a trick I'm sure you've all seen before. It looks simple, but I can promise you that it requires a lot of practice." Jack said, picking up a hoola hoop with a satin cloth hanging from it.

He put it on the ground in front of me, and held out his hand. I took it and stepped into the middle of the hoop. Jack reached down and pulled the hoop up to my neck, so I was covered by the silk. He held it there for a few seconds, before dropping it to the ground and the audience gasped as I was no longer wearing the black dress, but a short, tasseled yellow one.

That trick had taken a lot of practice and I remembered back to when one time, there hadn't been a dress at all.

"My turn." I said to the crowd, and picked up another hoop, this time with streamers around it's edges. I held it up to Jack's neck, and when I pulled it away, he was wearing a sharp, maroon suit.

"I think this colour suits me." He said and the audience laughed. "But now we don't match." He added and picked up a large bag filled with glittery confetti. He tipped it over my head, and when it settled on the ground the audience gasped as the yellow dress had transformed into a dark maroon, velvet evening gown.

"Perfect." Jack grinned. "But I think you all deserve to know how it's done."

"In each change, you may have noticed that we both became slimmer. That's because each change of costume was hidden under the other, but having a time limit of only a few seconds made it all the more spectacular when it changed." I explained as Danny stepped forward.

"While you two clean this up." He said, kicking some of the confetti. "I'd like the lights to be dimmed." He added and the lights went out. "Now, I'd like to know how many of you used the bathroom here before taking your seats."

The crowd murmured at his strange request, but a chorus of 'Yes' echoed through the arena. "Excellent, but I can tell that not everyone answered. Let's shed some ultraviolet light on this situation." Danny said and a blue light was switched on and around the arena, green blobs appeared, on hands, on bags or on the armrests and railings around the arena.

"Now, this isn't magic so much. Just a bit of fun that you need to remember for our finale." Meritt said. "In the soap we put a solution that only shows up under an ultraviolet light."

"Yes, and I'm shocked to say that not as many people use soap as they should." Danny said accusingly and the audience laughed.

"Now, for our grand finale." I said, clapping my hands together.

"Yes…And this isn't some boring trick. Tonight, right now, we are going to expose someone who has been working tirelessly to wreak havoc around the world." Danny added.

As we began, I walked over to the wings of the stage and pressed an automatic lock on the two doors of the President's box so he couldn't escape.

"As you know, brave men and women around the world are sacrificing time with their families, holidays and luxuries of life to protect us from international terrorist groups." Danny said and a whoop came up from the crowd.

"Yes, they deserve a big applause." I said and the arena erupted into cheers.

"But, there are some people who gain profit from these conflicts and these kind of people belong behind bars." Jack said.

"One of these people is here with us tonight." Meritt said. "They have been using your hard earned, taxpaying money to buy and distribute weapons across the globe to fund international terrorism."

"Isn't that right, … Mr President?" I said and looked up at the box. Slowly, the rest of the arena looked from me to their President in confusion, as the man himself stared down calmly at the stage.

"Do you have anything to say, sir?" Jack asked.

"I haven't heard anything of the sort." The President said calmly.

"We don't believe you." Danny said in a sing-song voice.

"And do you have any proof of these extraordinary accusations?" He asked skeptically.

"Actually, we do." Danny replied, and up on the screen behind him appeared the list of all the files related to his dealings.

"Ooh, let's have a look at this one, shall we?" Meritt asked and pointed to one of the files.

It opened on the screen and read:

 _Ship to: Paris, France._

 _Contents:_

 _1 x crate, AK-47s._

 _5 x crate of hand grenades._

 _Income: $ 4, 000, 000._

And below this statement was the President's name and his signature.

Around the arena, the crowd began to murmur and the President's cabinet looked between each other and the President himself.

"We believe you also have a nice collection of your takings hidden away somewhere in the country." Meritt said, as the FBI realised their President was being threatened and began making their way towards the stage.

"So, you're accusing me of funding international terrorism with taxpayers money, and everything is hidden away in some warehouse in Washington?" He asked astounded, with a derogatory laugh.

"We never mentioned a warehouse in Washington." I replied and he faltered slightly as his cabinet began giving their President suspicious looks.

"Yes, you did. You just mentioned it then." The President said.

"No, they didn't." One of his cabinet members said behind him.

"And we can prove everything that's just come to light." Jack called to the crowd, and we flashed our footage of Danny sneaking through the White House onto the screen.

"We knew the President was up to no good, but we needed proof, so we knew the fist place to look for evidence would be on his computer." I began, and on the screen, as Danny walked down the corridor, he whipped off his maintenance overalls and revealed the smart suit beneath.

"Just like the dress change trick, Danny was wearing his suit underneath so he could get through the White House without being asked questions." Jack said, before the screen cut to Danny at the computer, shining the ultraviolet light on the keyboard.

"To get the password to the President's computer, we used the solution trick. We delivered him a gift, dunked in the solution, so that when he typed in his password, we knew what letters he used." Danny added.

"Gettysburg, wasn't it?" I asked the President with a grin. "We were then able to access his files showing each transaction and exactly what he gained from each one."

The screen then cut to a view of the full warehouse. "This is the warehouse in… Washington, was it?" Meritt asked the President. "Just like the invisible stairs, we looped a feed of the full warehouse over the cameras while it was being emptied." He continued as the cameras then showed an empty warehouse and a truck with our police escort leaving the warehouse.

"But don't worry, sir. Your haul is sitting nicely in the delivery section of the FBI's headquarters, clearly labeled as 'Marked For Destruction'." I finished, as the President stood up and marched towards the door, but of course it was locked.

We watched from the stage as the President's cabinet members stood up and rounded on him as the FBI disappeared from the crowd and made their way up to his box. They burst in and led the President away as the arena exploded into shouts and cheers of both shock and victory…but mostly shock.

"I believe that's all we have for you tonight folks." Meritt said.

"Thank you very much for your help and attention this evening." Danny added and as the crowd cheered, both he and Meritt turned to face me.

"What?" I asked them as the audience gasped and then squealed. I looked out in utter confusion, and then to Jack who was kneeling down beside me with a small box in his hand.

I clapped my hand over my mouth as he opened it to produce a silver ring with three, inlaid diamonds on it's top.

"Will you marry me, Taylor Court?" He asked.

I was in such shock that all I could do was start to laugh in shock and joy.

"Yes!" I grinned down at him. He beamed back as he took my hand and slid the ring onto my finger. I bent down and hugged him as he stood up, lifting me in to the air before kissing me.

He put me back down on the ground and we turned back to the crowd as they lost their minds.

"We are the Four Horsemen." I cried with a laugh.

"Good night and Merry Christmas." Jack finished, as we all joined hands and took a huge bow.


	47. Chapter 11 - Epilogue (4)

"The President's been sacked and the Vice President has been granted emergency power." Dylan said as we all sat under a Rotunda in a local park.

"Every unused weapon he's sent out has been de-activated and every cent he's earned has been donated to relief efforts and to families with serving members." He added.

"Well done, Horsemen." A voice said and I looked over my shoulder to see the last person I expected to.

Louis, the old man who owned the magic shop in Paris walked over to us and sat beside Dylan.

"The Eye thanks you for your unwavering service." He beamed round at the four of us. "I hope we can count on your service again in the future."

Danny, Meritt, Jack and I looked between each other, knowing exactly what each of us was thinking.

"About that…" Danny began.

"We were thinking…" Meritt continued.

"That we should…" Jack added.

"Take a break for a while." I finished.

"We've been going non-stop for the past five years and we need a rest." Danny said.

"To re-charge the old batteries." Merrit added.

"And start new lives." Jack said, taking my hand.

"We understand." Louis said.

"But we'll always be there, when the Eye needs us." I finished.

"In that case, we wish you all the best and we look forward to working with you again." Louis said.

"Until then." Danny said as he and Meritt shook Dylan and Louis' hands. "Bye guys." He added to Jack and I.

"See ya kids." Meritt winked, before the two headed off together.

"Thank you." I said to Louis as he kissed me on the cheek.

"Thank _you_ , My Dear." He replied with a smile.

I took Jack's hand, and we left the Rotunda and walked back, through the park.

"I'm glad it's not over completely." I said.

"Yeah, we'd miss it instantly if it was." Jack replied, and slipped something into my pocket before running ahead.

"What was that?" I asked, and reached my hand inside to pull out a playing card.

"The Queen of Hearts." I grinned and looked up to see Jack grinning over his shoulder. I flicked it between my fingers and threw it after him.

 _And so, the Four Horsemen disappeared, but not forever. They'd be there when the Eye needed them. And when they emerge, we'll be there waiting and watching with baited breath for them to amaze us once again._

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that's it. Thank you all so much for sticking with me and for every review, favourite and follow.**

 **I wish you all the best and thank you again.**

 **Amy :)**


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